Joel C. Rosenberg. The Twelfth Imam. Tyndale, 2010.

I confess to reading a series out of order. A friend lent me a copy of The Tehran Initiative, which I have already reviewed. The Twelfth Imam is the first in the series.

As noted in that review, the Twelfth Imam is the Shiite Muslim messiah, the Mahdi, as they call him. Unlike the Sunni Muslims, the term Imam is not used to describe any Shia clergy. That is an honorific only certain historical Shiite leaders who are descendants of Mohammad himself can have.

We meet David Shirazi, who is the protagonist of both novels, and learn his background. It is more intense than we realize from just the second book. We learn about his family, his education, his talents, his recruitment by the CIA from the time he was in high school. While an agnostic himself, he does begin to observe Shiite customs and attend mosques in the United States and Germany to establish his background.

When he finally gets “in country” in Iran, he learns that many people, including the top political leadership of the nation are getting excited about the coming of the Twelfth Imam. There is a man who has appeared mysteriously to seemingly random Iranians and performed miracles. Even the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah, has come under his spell.

At one point this reader was reminded of a novel from the 1950s titled The Ugly American. It is actually a collection of related stories telling about different Americans working in some aspect of the foreign service and how they are clueless about the local cultures. They end up doing things that the local people either do not understand or find offensive. I seem to recall one, for example, was trying to help people in India by starting to import beef cattle.

Not only is Shirazi an Iranian-American whose first language was Farsi, but he reads up on the Shiite eschatology and realizes that the Twelfth Imam is a huge deal in Iran. But his superiors dismiss his reports even though it is the Imam himself who is encouraging Iran to ramp up its nuclear weapon program. Like the ugly Americans in that fifties book, some people just do not get it. Washington, D. C., is not the center of the universe.

We also get a back story to Shirazi’s sometime girlfriend, Marseille. Her family and David’s become friends because of some mutual aid they provide to escape Iran when the American embassy is seized in 1979. That is before either of them are born, but it becomes part of their family history.

So does September 11, 2001. That is a sudden surprise, but Rosenberg tells in the story such a way that it rings true.

Because of the back stories, The Twelfth Imam takes a little while to get going, but it all comes together. The last third of the book is a real page turner in the style of many spy or international thrillers.

Because of its subject matter, The Twelfth Imam gives the reader a lot to think about. Is the Twelfth Imam the real deal? Well, he is consistent with Muslim teachings. While the Persians have the tradition of the Twelfth Imam, as an alleged descendant of Mohammad, he is an Arab. He calls for unity among all the Muslim sects and sounds like he can make it happen. It is not secret that the Apocalyptic goal for Muslims is world conquest and a worldwide Caliphate.

There is one fascinating scene in the novel that truly makes a statement about that. Rosenberg describe a scene between the Imam and the Grand Ayatollah Hosseini (all the “current” government leaders are fictional). The Supreme Leader of Iran and his advisors are all bowing prostrate before the Twelfth Imam.

“Hamid,” said the man…”do you remember what happened on the mountain?”

“Yes, my Lord,” Hosseini said, his face still pressed to the ground. “You showed me the glories of the kingdoms of the world.”

“And what did I say to you?”

“You said, ‘All these things I will give you, if you fall down before me and do my will.’ And I have endeavored to do just that ever since, My Lord.” (293-294, cf. Luke 4:5-8)

Very pointed. Both Islam and Communism claim to be movements that the world is destined to adopt entirely. Both often use violence to gain power, but the ultimate goal is world domination, whether through the Caliphate or the classless society. I recall being surprised years ago reading something by Osama bin Laden. Even though he had fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, he believed he could get the Chinese on his side to help establish his Caliphate.

This also helps explain the unusual hostility both Communism and Islam have towards Christianity. Christianity has its own eschatology, but it does not involve world conquest in the manner of Marx or Mohammad.

The Kingdom of God is very different. Jesus gained his authority not by conquest of geographical territory, but by winning willing human hearts. He demonstrated His authority over sin and death by rising from the dead. Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock,” not “submit or else” as both Communism and Islam insist upon (see Revelation 3:20).

Anyway, the Imam not only promotes Islamic unity, but he provides his backing to the Iranian nuclear weapon development. Shirazi, working undercover as a technician and salesman for a German telecommunications company, learns about some of this, and when an earthquake topples the Iranian city of Hamadan, he begins to suspect that the earthquake was caused by an underground nuclear test.

Meanwhile, the head of the Iranian nuclear weapons program is killed by a car bomb, and one of his associates wants out of the program before he is killed. While nearly everyone suspects the car bomber to be an Israeli agent, we really do not know for sure.

Shirazi gets involved in a plot almost as complicated as Argo. Indeed, the original Argo exploit is part of the back story. The Twelfth Imam gets exciting and truly apocalyptic. Even though I would recommend reading the tales in order, I am glad I read this one even if I did not read it first.