By Alex Alfirraz Scheers, CapX
Children gather in a school courtyard for their morning assembly. The sun beams on their young faces, as they form orderly rows. They are resplendent in their crisp, white uniforms. That’s where their innocence ends. It was stripped from them by Shia extremists. ‘We wait for you, Oh Imam, come back to us again,’ the children bellow in unison, ‘do not see me as too young, for you I will rise up and remain standing tall.’
The scene I am describing does not take place in Tehran. It takes place in North London. The song being sung is unlike ordinary school songs heard anywhere else in the UK. The lyrics refer to the Imam Mahdi, or the Twelfth Imam, a messianic figure in Shia doctrine. These school children are singing for his return.
Young children are full of life. Yet, in this North London school, run by Shia disciples who revere Iran’s Supreme Leader, these children exalt death. Brainwashed by zealots, the students continue to chant. They repeat a refrain. ‘Do not see me as too young,’ they cry, ‘from the 313 you’ll see I’ll answer the call.’ The Tony Blair Institute’s Kasra Aarabi wrote ‘[These] children [are] declaring their preparedness to join the so-called 313 special fighters of the Twelfth Imam and join the apocalyptic wars that will follow the Twelfth Imam’s return to Earth – and in so doing, expressing a desire to become “martyrs”.’
Let that sink in for a moment. Young children in the UK are yearning to become martyrs.
This is what the Islamic Republic of Iran has exported to British shores. Indeed, the Islamic Republic is not just Israel’s or the United States’ problem. It is the UK’s problem, too.