In Reply to: August 22nd and heaven and hell and Mohammed posted by The Coniuratio on August 16, 2006 at 15:04:43:
"Mr. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced."
I have a big problem with statements like this coming from Bernard Lewis. Where is the evidence that President Ahmadinejad is setting Iranian foreign policy according to some version of Islamic prophecy? Am I supposed to believe what Bernard Lewis claims simply because he's a "renowned expert in Orientalism and an historian"? What about other Islamic historians and experts in the field? What do they think of Lewis' inpretations of material found in speeches, articles and textbooks? My guess would be the jury of expert opinion is still out on Lewis' scholarly conclusions.
There are people who claim President Bush believes we're living out the fulfillment of Christian apocalyptic prophecy because has talked publically about feeling called by God to serve as the national leader at this point in history. In fact, I have read claims that Bush's foreign policy is aimed at bringing on Armageddon and Second Coming. Despite those claims, I have never seen a shread of evidence that the U.S. President personally believes in doomsday prophecy: such belief isn't exactly a doctrinal requirement of evangelical Christianity. People have also made these claims about Bush because he has the political support of doomsday preachers like John Hagee and Timothy LeHaye. This doesn't make Bush their followers with respect to doomsday prophecy or the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.
Here's the difference between leftwing interpretations of Bush's worldview versus Lewis' claims about Ahmadinejad's worldview: I can read the arguments being made about Bush's beliefs and examine his statements to determine for myself whether there is any merit to the claim that the U.S. President is consciously trying to hasten the Second Coming. On the other hand, I just have to take Lewis' word for things regarding Ahmadinejad's beliefs.
Sorry, but I've learned to be skeptical about the reliability of a single-source authority since my days in The Family.