At the mosque of Jamkaran, 110km south of Tehran and just east
of the holy city of Qom, tens of thousands gather on Tuesdays to
pray and drop messages for the "missing" imam into a well.
Abul-Qassem Mohammed, the 12th leader whom Shia Muslims regard as a
successor to the prophet Mohammed, entered "occultation" in 941 and
will one day return to rule justly before Judgment Day.
In the women's section by Jamkaran's well, Mina, 18, faints, only
slowly regaining consciousness and whispering. "Last night she
dreamed the 12th Imam asked her to come," says an older female
relative. "Don't interrupt, she is talking to the Imam."
Pilgrims then take small pieces of Mina's green scarf torn up by
her relatives.
Veneration of the 12th Imam is common among Iran's 68m population,
whose religious practices mix piety, respect for learned clerics
and age-old mysticism. But the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad,
has placed a special emphasis on the 12th Imam, even referring to
him in his October United Nations speech.
While many analysts highlight Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's background in the
Basij Islamic militia or his promotion of former Revolutionary
Guards to key positions, the discreet talk among those close to the
regime is more about his religious beliefs.
Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has not only reached out to millions of pious
Iranians through venerating the 12th Imam, but has engaged with
deeply conservative religious groups that shunned politics for much
of the 26 years of the Islamic Republic.
The 1979 political revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
broke with such conservatism, says Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, cleric and
former reformist vice-president. "Unlike Ayatollah Khomeini, most
clerics resisted change, distrusted politics and emphasised the
12th Imam's return as the only way to attain justice," he says.
"After the revolution, they came to accept the Islamic Republic but
not its progressive aspects."
Hojjatiyeh, a group laying special stress on the Imam's return, was
banned by Ayatollah Khomeini in the revolution's early years. But a
crucial development came in 1989 when, after Ayatollah Khomeini
died, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced him as Iran's supreme
leader.
Lacking his predecessor's political and religious credentials,
Ayatollah Khamenei turned to religious conservatives for support.
"Ayatollah Khamenei spoke of Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi [seen by
many intellectuals as Iran's most uncompromising cleric] as a great
teacher," remembers Mohsen Kadivar, a reformist cleric and
philosophy professor. "Later Mr Ahmadi-Nejad also looked to such
conservatives for legitimacy."
Few doubt that previously unorganised, grassroots religious groups
played a key role in Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's election campaign. "He rode
a wave using mosque-based organisations and even maddahs [religious
singers] to gain support," says Mr Abtahi. "But these songs aren't
political, they're not praising the Islamic Republic, only the 12th
Imam."
For political leaders to seek backing from popular religion,
mystics or even millennialists is hardly new in Iran. The Safavid
dynasty (1501-1722), which converted the country to Shi'ism, sprung
from a small Sunni sect whose followers believed its leader was
divine. The Shah of Iran, often seen as a secular moderniser,
allowed mobs to attack Bahais, a sect seen as heretics by
conservative Shia.
Three months after Mr Ahmadi-Nejad became president, whispers about
his view of the 12th Imam are growing. According to one rumour, as
mayor of Tehran he drew up a new city plan for the imam's
return.
The culture ministry last month denied the government had dropped a
letter pledging loyalty into Jamkaran well. But an early cabinet
decision allocated the equivalent of $17m for Jamkaran. And Mr
Ahmadi-Nejad's promises to eliminate injustice, corruption and
unemployment have more sense of "heaven on earth" than mundane
government targets.
"His behaviour shows he has more important goals than politics,"
says Mr Abtahi. "He speaks with the confidence of someone who has
received God's word. Whether genuine or a means to power, this is a
new discourse for the Iranian revolution." READ MORE
Some senior clergy are alarmed. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a
conservative, has attacked maddahs for singing about dreams and
"fake meetings" with the imam.
In foreign policy, officials worry an emphasis on the 12th Imam not
only puzzles Europe and Russia while Iran tries to revive talks
over its nuclear programme but alienates Sunni, a majority in the
Muslim world, who do not share the Shia view of the Imam's
return.
The consequences of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's religiosity are also
uncertain for Ayatollah Khamenei, to whom many look to rein in the
president. "So far, the leader has seen Mr Ahmadi-Nejad as loyal,
someone who should reach the 12th Imam through him," says a senior
reformist. "But this is an unstable situation."
"Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's project must fail," says Mr Abtahi. "He is
caught in the paradox of those who understand religious mystery in
a physical [literal] way. Of course, we must pray for the return of
the imam, but [in government] we must also tackle inflation and
unemployment."
