In a video contest depicting the second coming of Imam al-Mahdi that took place in 2012, a young correspondent presents the breaking news in what is a fictitious show by the female students of “Sayyidat Nisaa’ al-Alaameen” foundation. Throughout this contest, they presented a few probable headlines according to the policies and views of different television channels. All of this content was along was presented along with a hashtag (Newspaper headlines on the morning of the second coming).
We observe here a new witty cinematic method in promoting the idea that the second coming (to Shiites) is nearing its time. It has gotten to a point where these videos are made depicting the incident as it occurs and how it unfolds, yet only leaving out the time of the incident as it was presented as breaking news from Mekka.
The film begins as the media channels receive the breaking news of the appearance of al-Mahdi, and it shows how they interact with this event and report it to the world. Some of these channels were the LBC, Future TV, and al-Safir Newspaper. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had pre-occupied the world by his insistent claims that he meets regularly with al-Mahdi since assuming the presidency of the Republic of Iran in 2005 until 2013 for two consecutive terms. His exclusion by al-Khaminei for a third term however proved the opposite. These videos were made during the term of Najad showing which philosophy they were influenced by.
All the scenes from this video are no more than scripts and scenarios taken from old Shiite narratives of the time of the second coming, as told by some religious figures. The scenario from the characteristics of the Imam, to the allegiance of the 313 men, the place of his appearance, as well as Iran’s declaration of allegiance are all taken precisely from these religious scriptures.
What started out as a closed contest soon came out on Youtube for everyone to see! This video serves to manipulate the idea and make it appear as a true prediction. However, the second coming to Shiite’s and Muslims alike is known to be near impossible to predict and realize since it is a very sensitive and important issue. This has unfortunately caused new assertions to people that the idea is mythical and very far from reality, and only exists on kid’s shows.
