The following is an observation that I, as a student of the Bible, have made. It is not a prediction, for I have not been given those powers.

As Westerners we are, or should be, aware of the rise of Islam in our world. We should also be aware that Islam means “submission” and the goal of Islam is world dominance. Because we look at Muslims as a group, most Westerners are not aware of a great division within Islam. This division is based upon theology and presents a very interesting geopolitical picture.

About eighty-five percent of Muslims are Sunnis. We hear this word frequently in the news today. The remaining fifteen percent of Muslims are of the Shia’ sect, or are Shiites. Again, this is a familiar name from the news. The Shiites are considered the fundamentalist Muslims, which seems to translate into the more violent Muslims.

Shia’ Islam has at least one major difference from Sunni Islam. Many Shiites are “Twelvers,” which means they believe that there will be twelve imams, or religious leaders, from the time of Mohammed until the End Times. So you see, Shiites believe there will be an End Time. Further, they believe that today we are in the time of the Twelfth Imam and he is alive and somewhere in the world.

To make matters more interesting, Shiites believe they can create the turmoil necessary to cause the Twelfth Imam to appear and to take action to bring the world into final submission. In his book God’s War on Terror, Brother Walid Shoebat, born a Palestinian and obviously familiar with Islam, makes a very good case for the Twelfth Imam to be the same person that Christians call the Anti-Christ.

Therefore, the Shiites believe they can stir the pot and cause the last imam, possibly the Anti-Christ, to make himself known and finish the Islamic goal of complete control of the world.

The Islamic countries that are Shiite are Iran, the majority of Iraq, Azerbaijan and a portion of Turkey. In addition, the eastern desert region of Saudi Arabia is heavily Shiite. I have colored these countries and regions bright orange on a map of the Middle East. I chose that color for no significant reason other than to make the region of Shiite influence stand out. You will see that the area of Shiite dominance forms a core within the Islamic world. Afghanistan and Pakistan are east of this Core, the Islamic former Soviet republics, what I call the “Stans”; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan are northeast of the Core, and the remainder of Islamic countries are south and west of the Shiite Core.

Surely, you have heard the rantings and threats of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, against the West and specifically against Israel. He says Israel should be wiped off of the map, and he is just the guy to do it. Iran is also known to be developing a nuclear weapon and has produced a missile capable of delivering such a weapon not only to the Middle East and Israel, but also to Europe and Africa.

Ahmadinejad is a “Twelver.” He not only expects the Twelfth Imam soon, he spent several million dollars building a mosque specifically for this person.

I will add another level of concern to this picture. Iranians are not Arabic. They are Persian and view themselves as a little different from other Muslims. Persians are not the children of Ishmael as are many Arabs. This country was known as Persia until early in the 20th Century when a German philosopher and mystic showed them that they were Aryan and convinced them to change the name of their country to Iran.