Unleashing the Beast

T HE M AHDI , I SLAM ' S M ESSIAH / 87

as 50,000 worshipers were trapped in the conflict. The command was given to close and lock the 26 gates of the mosque. snipers rushed atop seven minarets (prayer towers). The siege lasted for two weeks, due to certain Islamic laws relating to damaging the mosque. Also, the hostages were not to be injured and the Saudi government wanted to rescue them alive. The fundamentalist rebels believed the time had come to cleanse Islam of influences that were corrupting it. They wanted a ban on soccer, television and higher education. After the assault ended, 63 of the rebels were beheaded, including the leader, Juhaiman. During this 1,400 th anniversary of Islam, an Iranian exile named Ayatollah Khomeini managed to return to his country, remove the moderate Shah of Iran, a friend of the West, and institute a radical form of Islam. Americans were shocked when the U.S. Embassy and its personnel were held hostage for 444 days. The Ayatollah, during his exile, smuggled thousands of cassette tape messages to his followers in Iran. These messages were planting the seed for the people of Iran to receive this radical leader upon his arrival. The timing of the Ayatollah's return was also suspect. He returned on the 1,400 th anniversary of the founding of Islam. There were high expectations that the Mahdi would rise out of Iran or a neighboring nation. Some believe Khomeini timed his return in hopes the people of Iran would declare him the final prophet, the expected one. In 1991, prior to the Gulf War, Yasser Arafat contacted