Word: messiahs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ruling House of Saud was badly shaken by last month's attack on the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, the holiest shrine in Islam. It was originally reported that the attacking guerrillas were religious fundamentalists who were seeking the recognition of their leader as the Muslim Mahdi or Messiah. Saudi officials later confirmed that although some of the intruders were indeed religious zealots, the majority were politically motivated guerrillas who were trying to destabilize the country. Some Saudis believe that the armed men may have been trained in South Yemen, the Marxist state at the southern tip of the Arabian...
...trained and armed in Marxist South Yemen, and that the tab for the venture was picked up by Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi. The Saudis also claimed that the young leader of the group, Mohammed al-Quraishi, a theology student who called himself the Muslim Mahdi (Messiah), had been killed in the fighting. A Saudi official declared last week that the objective of the gunmen had been to "terrorize the Muslims, incite sedition and rebel against the leader of the country," King Khalid. This was the first admission by the Saudi government that the motives of the terrorists had been political...
...Mary's father, for instance, is crucified for criticizing the government. Joseph's family has come down in the world, its ancestral wealth having been snatched from it by greedy King Herod. Joseph has been an anti-Roman terrorist. When Mary claims to be pregnant with the Messiah, a Jewish court sentences her to death by stoning. In the nick of time, Joseph intervenes to save her, accepting the paternity of the child and a flogging in her stead...
...first day (Tuesday, Nov. 20). "Who is this madman?" exclaimed Prince Sultan, the Saudi Minister of Defense. Shortly after 4 a.m., some 200 followers of Mohammed had seized the mosque, using weapons concealed inside 14 coffins. They demanded that the worshipers recognize Mohammed as the long awaited Mahdi (messiah).* At first, the worshipers could not believe any harm could come to them, since it is a precept of Islam that no blood be shed inside a mosque; by nightfall they knew that they were hostages. Blood had already been shed within the mosque; when several guards had tried to arrest...
Government helicopters by then had begun dropping tear gas on the besieged holy place. In the great courtyard, the attackers were haranguing their hostages to proclaim Mohammed Abdullah al-'Utaibah the promised messiah. But they fled in panic to the upper floors of the mosque and its seven minarets when National Guard troops suddenly burst through the gates of the mosque and armored vehicles with artillery and machine guns quickly encircled the Ka'ba. To minimize damage to the mosque, the government had ordered its troops to move in with knives and to use them in hand...