Twelver Shi’a Islam, the Mahdi, and the Iranian regime’s existential war against Israel – Why Iran seeks to destroy the Jewish nation

J. Micah Hancock - https://allisraelnews.com/twelver-shia-islam-and-the-iranian-regimes-existential-war-against-israel-why-iran-seeks-to-destroy-the-jewish-nation

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a Shi’a Muslim government. While it is not the only Shi’a Muslim majority country, it is the only one with a Shi’a theocratic government based on the Islamic Revolutionary philosophy of its founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

It is also a government that has attempted to spread its political and religious ideology outward – to other Shi’a regions, to Sunni Muslim nations, and to the rest of the world as a means of ensuring the survival of its Islamic revolutionary philosophy.

Most Shi’ites today are Twelver Shi’ites, believing in the return of the Hidden (12th) Imam, who will bring about the institution of a perfect, incorrupt Islamic government.

Many Muslims believe in the coming of the Mahdi, a messianic figure in both of the two main branches of Islam: Sunni and Shi’a. For most Sunni Muslims, the Mahdi is not theologically important, but occupies a larger role in popular beliefs about the end of time. However, for Twelver Shi’ism, the Mahdi is identified with the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad ibn Hasan – better known as Muhammad al-Mahdi. He is said to be the son of the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari (who died in  874).