The claimant of the prophecy arose: not the first, so why...

Dar Al-Fatwa in Lebanon submitted a complaint to the Lebanese Public Prosecution of Discrimination against a person called “Nashat Munther”, also known as “Nashat Majd Al-Nour” who claims to be a prophet from God.

The name “Nashat Majd Al-Nour” began appearing on social media weeks ago.

Images of a person in traditional Arab dress with a tattooed drawing on his forehead, holding what looks like a scepter in his hand, calling himself “Prophet Nashat Majd al-Nur” began to be repeated.

Neshat claims that he is “sent from the heavens” and calls “to Illuminati,” as well as calling those he says are his followers “illuminati.”

A “message” that arose, among other things, on the advocacy of a vegetarian diet.

Initially, the name Nashat appeared as a “yoga and meditation teacher” and “a wise enlightenment” who “spreads the spiritual wisdom of the key to enlightenment” and announced a series of episodes on YouTube accompanied by the well-known Lebanese “astronomer” Carmen Shammas.

Then the matter shifted from contemplation to a “claiming prophethood” and instead of a “wise teacher” he called himself a “prophet”.

And the astrologer Carmen Shammas was the first to announce a “prophecy” that arose in a clip in which he appeared sitting next to her, congratulating the Lebanese on “the presence of a messenger from heaven to help people and the earth from the land of beloved Lebanon.”

Munther is not the first person to claim prophecy, and the act in itself is not the reason to pursue him legally.

This may explain why the religious and law enforcement authorities in Lebanon “ignored” the beginning of Mundhir’s claim to prophethood.

However, with the frequency of his publications and statements and his entry into controversies on social media, and the expansion of the matter inside and outside Lebanon, the authorities have grounds for charges of “racism, incitement to conflict, and contempt of religious rites”, which are the charges brought by the complainants to Nashat Munther.

The National News Agency, the official news agency in Lebanon, said that the complaint submitted by the Secretary of the Fatwa under the direction of Mufti Abdel Latif Derian, calls on the discriminatory Public Prosecution to “take the necessary legal action against Nashat Munther and all those who appear in the investigation, based on the provisions of Articles 317 and 474 of the Law Penalties”.

• Article 317 states:

“Any act, every writing, and every speech that is intended or results in inciting sectarian or racial strife or inciting conflict between sects and the various elements of the nation is punishable by imprisonment from one to three years and a fine of one hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand pounds….”

• As for Article 474, it states:

“Whoever, in one of the ways stipulated in Article 209, degrades religious rites that are practiced in public, or incites contempt for one of those rites, shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to three years.”

On Facebook and Twitter, there are many pages bearing the name “The Prophet Nashat Majd Al-Nour” and pages for “His Followers.” It is difficult to distinguish between seriousness from irony in what is published on these pages and in responses to publications therein.

But Nashat was not satisfied with writing to spread his “message”, but he repeatedly appeared in videos on social media, accompanied by Carmen Shammas at times and alone at other times.

At the beginning of the spread of his name and his videos on social networking sites, Nashat wore his uniform and his stick, a rich subject of ridicule in Lebanon and abroad, especially in Egypt.

In turn, the “Prophet Neshat” devoted a large part of his time and his “prophecies” to the Egyptians, and threatened them to see the impact of their mockery of him in their country and the tremors and anger that they would witness.

And it turned into a controversy tainted by insults, insults and racism.

Among the commentators on the matter were those who expressed sympathy with Nashat Munther, considering what he says a sign of “psychological disorder.”

The controversy then moved beyond the pages of social networking sites to newspapers and media screens.

In Egypt, professors at Al-Azhar University commented on the claim of prophecy, including Mabrouk Attia, who said that “the claim of prophecy is a settled issue, and that most of those who follow what the claimant of prophecy publishes, their goal is to have fun and pass the time.”

Muhammad Salem Abu Al-Asi, former dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at Al-Azhar University, said, “I grew up free to claim whatever he wanted, but he had to come up with proof and his miracle if it was true.”

Among the commentators were those who accused Nashat Mundhir of madness and immorality, and some of them said that the repetition of such supplications is one of the signs of the Hour.

A large part of the controversy surrounding Nashat and his claim to prophethood was held by the astrologer Carmen Shammas, who responded angrily to her cynics, especially from the Lebanese.

“Astrologist” Carmen Shammas is registered on her YouTube channel, one million people, and her documented page on Facebook is followed by 116 thousand followers, 127 thousand on Twitter, and about 13 thousand followers on Instagram.

The Lebanese and Arabs know her through her predictions and predictions for the horoscopes since the end of the nineties, and her annual books on horoscopes achieve high sales.

Carmen Shammas and Munther must have grown up relying on the large number of her followers who believed in her ability to astrology and believed in her prophecies in spreading what they describe as the new heavenly message.

But Carmen Shammas’ bet, as it appears from the interaction with the claim of Neshat’s prophecy, was a mistake and her history did not help her convince people of her ability to see the future in this attempt.

Some commentators were not surprised by what Carmen Shammas is doing, and considered it a natural result of the popularity, space, and even credibility that she was granted, as she made predictions about the future of events in New Year’s programs for many years.

There are many hypotheses about the reasons that push Carmen Shammas to “sacrific her reputation and status”, between those who say that she suffers from a psychological crisis, those who suspect that she is being blackmailed, and those who believe that she is doing this to make money from YouTube.

But Carmen said in her response to her cynics that she is aware of what she says and that this is what she sees, whose visions are the vision of the knower.