Ahmadinejad’s Era Is a “Minor Occultation”

Cabinet Secretary

In his most recent statement, cabinet secretary Majid Doostali said, “Ahmadinejad’s era ‎is the prelude to Imam Zaman’s return” [Imam Zaman is the 12th Shiite Imam who is ‎viewed to be in occultation but who will return one day].‎

Kargozaran newspaper yesterday published new comments by Doostali in which he is ‎quoted to have said, “The Cabinet Secretary pointed out that just as Imam Zaman’s ‎occultation had a prelude and a main period, his return too has a prelude and a main ‎period, and that Ahmadinejad’s administration was the prelude to the return.”‎

Majid Doostali is close to President Ahmadinejad and after Zaribafan, became the ‎Cabinet Secretary last June. He was with Ahmadinejad during the Iran-Iraq war and prior ‎to that was a judge in the serial murder cases in the province of Kerman who reduced the ‎capital punishment sentences of the criminal murderers, who were Basij members, to ‎mere prison terms. He was also the deputy district attorney of Kerman. ‎Recently, Hassan Rowhani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, had said that such ‎claims by the administration were attempts to “fool the masses”.
“What kind of a game is ‎this in which we assume the public to be fools? We will reveal everything to the public if ‎it becomes necessary. Some people nowadays place an empty prayer carpet in the front ‎row when they perform congregational prayers and declare that the carpet is for Imam ‎Zaman. Others put a plate for the Imam at their table when they eat. Still others schedule ‎their important meetings on Fridays, the weekly national holiday in Iran, so that they can ‎make their decision with the Imam amongst them, as they claim. Someone [a reference to ‎the President himself] even claimed one time that the Imam would appear in two years. A ‎few years have passed since that claim so it is clear that the person is nothing but a liar,” ‎he said.‎

Rowhani raised these issues after Ahmadinejad - who after his return from the US - had ‎called those who did not believe his claims that the gathering at Columbia University in ‎New York where Ahmadinejad gave a talk was under the “control” of Imam Zaman, ‎‎“shortsighted.”‎

‎“I know that short sighted people cannot digest these beliefs but I [at Columbia ‎University] was certain that our lord would come and run the show. I said ‘Imam Zaman! ‎I want to see your artistry,’” he had said. (Ahmadinejad’s speech at the Elm-o-Sanaat ‎University, Raja News.)‎