I've just finished reading a novel called The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg, which is a thriller set in the current political climate of today, with Iran developing as a nuclear power, etc. It's interesting because it's very close to reality; in fact, Rosenberg predicted the 9/11 plane attacks in a novel before they happened. What really interested me is that I hadn't heard anything before about this 'Twelfth Imam' who is a person many Muslims (particularly Shia) believe in, in real life. Just as Christians believe in the coming of Jesus again as Messiah, many Muslims believe in the return of the Imam, with Jesus as his lieutenant, who will destroy the "Little Satan" (Israel), and the "Great Satan" (America) and herald a return to a global Islamic caliphate. This post is more of a heads-up rather than a detailed break down, as it would probably take a lot of cutting and pasting, but Rosenberg has a 10 point Q&A here , which reads in...