13 January 2016•Update: 14 January 2016
TEHRAN, Iran
There are around 200,000 Shia-Muslim youths in the region prepared to wage holy war upon the arrival of the Mahdi, a prophesized Muslim leader, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency has quoted an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander as saying.
Speaking at an event organized by the Islamic Education Center for Strategic Studies, an Iranian think tank, Jafari reportedly said that tens of thousands of Shia youths had been armed and trained for jihad -- in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen -- in anticipation of the Mahdi’s appearance.
The youths, he said, had been "prepared" for the Mahdi’s appearance, going on to assert that the current chaos in the region -- including the emergence of Daesh -- was a sign of the Mahdi’s imminent arrival.
Shia Muslims believe the Mahdi will appear on earth to bring justice to mankind shortly before Armageddon, and that his appearance will be presaged by widespread chaos and war.
