haile selassie the mahdi?

Recently I've "met" someone online who is a Muslim / Rasta / Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. (I'm not sure if that does justice to exactly how he identifies).  But he did put forward the interesting notion that Haile Selassie was the Mahdi. He was basing his views on statements from Ibn al-Arabi, and hadith about an Abyssinian being prophecies to destroy the Kaaba along with other sources. 

I don't agree with that position, but I wonder if it we could view him as a sort of antitype to Ashama, the Negus of the first Hijra. 

RESPECT!: An Islamic Tribute to HIM Haile Selassie & My Abyssinian (“Rasta”) Brethren

obama: yes we can

This reminds me of how Bob Marley took Haile Selassie's speech to the UN and turned it into the song "War" (see until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes). Apparently will.i.am took a recent OBama speech and quickly transformed it into the song "Yes we can" (complete with a video directed by Bob Dylan's son, Jesse Dylan, and starring John Legend, Kate Walsh, Aisha Tyler, Amber Valletta, Taryn Manning, Nicole Scherzinger, Common, Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tatyana Ali, Herbie Hancock, Nick Cannon and many others.



Lyrics:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can. Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea...
Yes. We. Can.


And here's the longer clip which inspired the song, Obama's speech on the evening of the New Hampshire primary:



For hundreds of other Obama-related clip's check out BarackObamadotcom on YouTube.

until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes

On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil. - Haile Selassie I

The above is just an excerpt from a larger speech delivered by Haile Selassie I to the UN in 1963 which was later set to music and turned into the song "War" by Bob Marley.