Ali Khamenei And The Hidden Imam

Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran

So it is little wonder that, about a year ago, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former President of Iran and current Supreme Leader of that theocratic nation, revealed that he is in communication with the Hidden Imam. Khameneni has said that the Hidden Imam will appear before his death.

Over the last year more and more disturbing statements have come down from Ali Khamenei and his hardline supporters.

Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, leader of the Assambly of Experts (the group which appoints and vets the actions of the Supreme Leader), asserted that the Supreme Leader is the final arbitor of Iran’s elected government. Grand Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a powerful spiritual leader, would go further. In the last few months Sobhani went out of his way to reinforce Kani’s assertions, saying that the Supreme Leader “controls the rule of the people by the people.” Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a major supporter and spiritual guide to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has recently announced that, since Khamenei is being guided by the Hidden Imam, the Supreme Leader cannot make mistakes in judgment.

In essence, there is a move to promote Khamenei to a height his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, could only dream of. By making himself the mouthpiece of the Hidden Imam, Khamenei can assert that his orders are no longer than of a simple Supreme Leader, but the undiluted will of God himself.

If the division between Khamenei and his formerly loyal president continues to widen, odds are good that increasingly strong statements about the scope of power and authority that resides with the current Supreme Leader will continue to grow. Within the Shi’a worldview, only God can appoint a true leader of the faith (which cannot be separated from the state), and apparently there is a move on within Iran to make Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei just such a leader.

The evocation of the end times lore necessary to accomplish this feat also comes with a dangerous caveat. The world must be prepared for the return of the Hidden Imam, and the nature of this preparation is ominously left open to interpretation.