The Twelfth Imam (44 page)

A Note from the Author

In an effort to create a realistic setting for this story, I have borrowed from multiple real-world sources so that the people, places, and events my fictional characters experience could be as close to reality as possible. Following is a list of some of these sources.

The dialogue in chapter 2 between an announcer for Radio Tehran and a spokeswoman for the Iranian students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran is based on the actual dialogue of this nature on November 4, 1979, the day of the seizure. The student communiqués to the world used in this chapter are excerpts of the actual communiqués issued that day. See Massoumeh Ebtekar (as told to Fred A. Reed),
Takeover in Tehran: The Inside Story of the 1979 U.S. Embassy Capture
, pages 69-71.

The
U.S. News & World Report
article quoted in chapter 25 is real. It was written by David E. Kaplan and entitled “Not Your Father’s CIA.” The article appeared in the November 20, 2006, issue of the magazine, though I have used it as though it appeared in a January 2002 issue.

In Chapter 32, I mention an actual
Wall Street Journal
story, “Iran’s Web Spying Aided by Western Technology,” written by Christopher Rhoades and Loretta Chao. The story ran June 22, 2009.

In the same chapter, I cite an actual
New York Times
story, “Revolutionary Guard Buys Stake in Iran Telecom,” published in the “Deal Book” section, edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The story ran in the September 28, 2009, edition.

The story from the
Times
of London entitled “Discovery of UD3 Raises Fears over Iran’s Nuclear Intentions” mentioned in chapter 41 was written by Catherine Philip and ran on December 14, 2009.

In Chapter 43, I quote from an actual book,
The Awaited Savior,
by Baqir al-Sadr and Murtada Mutahhari. It is published by Islamic Seminary Publications in Karachi, Pakistan, and can be found online at http://www.al-islam.org/awaited/index.htm.

The physical descriptions of the Twelfth Imam and the depictions of the signs that are said to precede his arrival are taken from various traditions and hadiths. Numerous sources describe these signs, including the Web site www.awaitedmahdi.com.

In Chapter 62, I excerpt a monograph written by Mehdi Khalaji and published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It is entitled
Apocalyptic Politics: On the Rationality of Iranian Policy.
You can find it at http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/pubPDFs/PolicyFocus79Final.pdf.

The Thuraya satellite phones mentioned in chapters 54 and 63 are real; the details and specifications were drawn directly from the company’s Web site, http://www.ts2.pl/en/News/1/24.

The TV news report on the Hamadan earthquake in chapter 68 was adapted from an actual CNN report during the Haiti earthquake. See “Haiti appeals for aid; official fears 100,000 dead after earthquake,” January 13, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.earthquake/index.html.

The words the Twelfth Imam uses when describing Jews as the descendants of “apes and pigs” (chapter 70) and when giving instructions about decapitation and ripping his enemies’ hearts from their chests (chapter 84) are based on an actual communiqué issued by a radical Islamic jihadist group based in Gaza known as Jama’at Al-Tawhid wa’l-Jihad. The message was issued on March 20, 2010. It was picked up, translated, and reported by the Jerusalem-based Middle East Media Research Institute. See http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4060.htm.

In Chapter 74, I cite an actual
New York Times
article, “North Koreans Say They Tested a Nuclear Device,” written by David Sanger. The story ran on October 9, 2006.

Readers who are familiar with the geographic layout and landmarks in Tehran may notice that I’ve taken a few liberties with the locations of certain buildings such as the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosala Mosque. All other physical descriptions of buildings, street layout, and the surrounding areas are based on research and are as factual as possible.

Acknowledgments

Thank You, Lord, for letting me live and write, and thanks for all the people You have given me as friends and allies in life and in publishing. I do not deserve them, but I am deeply grateful for each and every one of them. Please bless them beyond anything they can hope for, dream of, or imagine.

Thank you, Lynn, for being my amazing and wonderful wife of twenty years and my best friend for even longer. Thank you so, so much for loving me and encouraging me and praying for me and doing life with me all these years. I don’t deserve you, but I’m so grateful for you! I love you so much.

Thank you, Caleb, Jacob, Jonah, and Noah, for your humor, insight, encouragement, and strength, and for all the joy you bring to your mom and me with your individual personalities.

Thank you to our wonderful families—my mom and dad, Len and Mary Jo Rosenberg; June “Bubbe” Meyers; the Rebeiz family; the Scoma family; the Meyers family; and the Urbanski family—for all your love and prayers.

Thank you to Edward and Kailea Hunt, Tim and Carolyn Lugbill, Steve and Barb Klemke, Fred and Sue Schwien, Tom and Sue Yancy, John and Cheryl Moser, Jeremy and Angie Grafman, Nancy Pierce, Dave and Barb Olsson, Jeff and Naomi Cuozzo, Lance and Angie Emma, Lucas and Erin Edwards, Chung and Farah Woo, Dr. T. E. Koshy and family, and all our other friends and allies with The Joshua Fund and November Communications, Inc., for all your wise counsel, hard work, and faithful friendship.

Thank you to General Boykin, Hormoz Shariat, and Tom Doyle for all the research, experience, and advice you have provided for this and other books.

Thank you to Mark Taylor, Jeff Johnson, Ron Beers, Karen Watson, Jeremy Taylor, Jan Stob, Cheryl Kerwin, Dean Renninger, Beverly Rykerd, and all the amazing and talented people on the Tyndale House Publishing team for helping launch this new series.

Thank you to Scott Miller, my trusted agent at Trident Media Group, for your continued great advice and valued friendship.

About the Author

Joel C. Rosenberg is the
New York Times
best-selling author of five novels—
The Last Jihad
,
The Last Days
,
The Ezekiel Option
,
The Copper Scroll
, and
Dead Heat
—and two nonfiction books,
Epicenter
and
Inside the Revolution
, with some 2 million total copies in print.
The Ezekiel Option
received the Gold Medallion award as the “Best Novel of 2006” from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Joel is the producer of two documentary films based on his nonfiction books. He is also the founder of The Joshua Fund, a nonprofit educational and charitable organization to mobilize Christians to “bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus” with food, clothing, medical supplies, and other humanitarian relief.

As a communications advisor, Joel has worked with a number of U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, Natan Sharansky, and Benjamin Netanyahu. As an author, he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV programs, including ABC’s
Nightline
,
CNN Headline News
, FOX News Channel, The History Channel, MSNBC,
The Rush Limbaugh Show
,
The Sean Hannity Show
, and
Glenn Beck
. He has been profiled by the
New York Times
, the
Washington Times
, the
Jerusalem Post
, and
World
magazine. He has addressed audiences all over the world, including those in Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and the Philippines. He has also spoken at the White House, the Pentagon, and to members of Congress.

In 2008, Joel designed and hosted the first Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem. The event drew two thousand Christians who wanted to “learn, pray, give, and go” to the Lord’s work in Israel and the Middle East. Subsequent Epicenter Conferences have been held in San Diego (2009); Manila, Philippines (2010); and Philadelphia (2010). The live webcast of the Philadelphia conference drew some thirty-four thousand people from more than ninety countries to listen to speakers such as Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon; pastors from the U.S., Israel, and Iran; Lt. General (ret.) Jerry Boykin; Kay Arthur; Janet Parshall; Tony Perkins; and Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of Hamas who has renounced Islam and terrorism and become a follower of Jesus Christ and a friend of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The son of a Jewish father and a Gentile mother, Joel is an evangelical Christian with a passion to make disciples of all nations and teach Bible prophecy. A graduate of Syracuse University with a BFA in filmmaking, he is married, has four sons, and lives near Washington, D.C.

To visit Joel’s weblog—or sign up for his free weekly “Flash Traffic” e-mails—please visit www.joelrosenberg.com.

Please also visit these other Web sites:

www.joshuafund.net

www.epicenterconference.com

and Joel’s “Epicenter Team” and the Joel C. Rosenberg public profile page on Facebook.