The Promised Messiah
By: Osama Saifi

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that unrest in the Middle East signals the coming of the promised messiah. He believes the promised messiah will ring in the final victory of Islam through the sword. It's naive to believe violence will end violence, and it's asinine to await a violent promised messiah.

The Promised Messiah would be a prophet, and prophets such as Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad were never aggressors. They were steadfast and peaceful. If the Iranian president anticipates a violent promised messiah to save the day, then this very violence would lead to its own destruction. The founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised messiah of the age, noted that any religion that needs violence to justify its claim, "cuts its own throat before reaching others."