Religious wars have, throughout human history, been some of the nastiest wars ever fought. Whichever side wins, these wars engender hatreds that last for generations after the fighting stops. Anyone who doesn't understand that there is a huge religious element for the Iranian regime in the ongoing Operation Epic Fury has just not been paying attention. For those of us in the civilized world, this is an action taken to rid the world of a fanatical regime that sponsors atrocities around the world and is working to develop nuclear weapons. But for Iran's regime, it's the fulfillment of an apocalyptic vision, an aspect of the Shia branch of Islam, and it's not just in Iran that these notions are being preached; it's happening right here, too.
Earlier on Monday, we learned of Iranian terror cells that are likely already operating here in the United States. Now, we see what is motivating these cells, and the preachers of hatred who are likewise already here.
For many, the war with Iran — and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — might seem like the climactic end to a long, brutal reign of terror by the theological clerics who have run the country since 1979.
But a Fox News Digital investigation reveals that, for certain hardline Shiite ideologues, including in the U.S., this is not an ending but a prophetic showdown that will usher in the arrival of the "Mahdi," a messiah, according to Islamic eschatology, or the theology of end times.
In this prophecy, Mahdi will emerge to battle Dajjal, the Islamic equivalent of the Antichrist, in a final battle of Armageddon. For many of these ideologues, President Donald Trump is Dajjal.
In other words, this branch of the Shiites sees the American/Israeli attack on Iran as the kickoff to the end of days. That is, essentially, what they are saying. That means that everything is on the table: There is no atrocity too great to commit.
And when they lose - they will, they must - there will be, as I said above, hatreds that will linger for generations.
Here's the great irony: Here in the United States, these people, these preachers of hatred and death, are sheltered by our First Amendment.
At a recent Friday sermon at a local Shiite mosque in northern Virginia, an imam closed prayer with an earnest plea, before war broke out in Iran: "May Allah destroy all the nonbelievers – or kafiroon or munafiqoon," he said, using Arabic words that refer to "nonbelievers" and "hypocrites."
He asked for this victory "before the arrival of Imam Mahdi."
Fox News Digital observed the sermon and also witnessed a special table of honor in the middle of the mosque’s main prayer hall, featuring framed photos of Khamenei embracing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah, also killed by Israel for orchestrating terrorist attacks.
This goes well beyond free speech. This goes beyond blocking roads and screeching incoherently at cops. These are supposed religious leaders calling for an apocalypse.
Read More: Watch: Pro-Khamenei Pakistanis Storm U.S. Consulate, Quickly and Violently Find Out
And this kind of preaching is going on all around us, here in the United States. Not just in Iran. Not just in Pakistan. Not just in Syria. Here.
From the mosque in northern Virginia to religious institutions in Michigan and Texas, clerics aligned with the Islamic Republic are advancing a doomsday interpretation of faith that casts geopolitical and military confrontation with the U.S. as part of a prophetic destiny tied to the return of the Mahdi.
After war broke out Friday night, Fox News Digital witnessed pro-regime chats on messaging platforms, like Telegram, filled with prayers, awaiting "the arrival" of Mahdi.
"We need Al Mahdi…His return with Jesus will be the final win permanently," one read.
"The saviour the warrior the dominator ‘ imam mahdi ’ [sic] will arrive," read another.
So, who is this Imam Mahdi? The version of Shia practiced by the mullahs in Iran, known colloquially as "Twelver Shia," is actually the largest of several sects of Shia Islam. The Imam Mahdi is identified in the sect as one Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Askari, who, it is claimed, is a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, the 12th Imam in a line of Imams descending from Mohammad through his daughter Fatima.
Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Askari was a real person. He was supposedly born in 869 A.D., in what is now Iraq. On the death of his father, Imam Hasan al-Askari, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Askari is claimed to have entered a state of occultation, in which he is said to remain today. Twelver Shiites believe he is still alive today, hidden away but still guiding his followers, and that he will return alongside Jesus to defeat evil forces - that would be the civilized world - and usher in an era of peace, meaning, Islamic hegemony and domination.
There are similar claims and key figures in Sunni Islam as well, but those usually take a (slightly) less apocalyptic tone.
This apocalyptic vision is being taught, right here in the United States, right now. This is what we are fighting in the skies over Iran. This is what we will, sooner or later, be fighting right here - and if that happens, we will be fighting people more than willing to die for their prophecy, believing they will be rewarded for it.
This is what we face. This is why I have been saying, for many years, that this is not a clash of civilizations. This is a clash between civilization and barbarity.
