'Say, 'Think: if the punishment of God should come to you, suddenly or foreseeably, would anyone but the evildoers be destroyed?'---Qur'an, 6: 48.
Mr. Lars Endel Roger Vilks, the Swedish man who created great international controversy over the last decade with his incendiary caricatures of Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) with the body of a dog, met with a fiery end on Sunday, 03 October 2021. A fatal car crash on a motorway literally burned him to death, and reduced the body into ashes within a short time. It appeared as though no amount of physical security arranged by the Swedish government, or other emergency services could save him from being consumed by an explosive fire destined for him on that day of misfortune. Global media prominently reported on this traffic accident: “Lars Vilks was charred to death when his car caught fire after an accident with a truck. The incident took place near the southern town of Markaryd. He was travelling in a police car that collided with a truck. Two police officers were also killed”.
Vilks was a deliberate offender; as he ‘knew’ what he was doing. Calling someone, anyone, a dog is deeply offensive- an insult of the highest order- least of all the spiritual father of a global Faith community, and he sought to justify his despicable crime on the so-called high moral high ground of ‘unfettered artistic freedom’ to offend and shock people’s sensibilities. No wonder, the deeply-insulting caricatures depicting their spiritual father, the Holy messenger of Allah (swt) Hazrat Muhammad (sa), caused profound anguish and much anger among the world’s Muslims.
Politics of ‘Free’/ Hate Speech
Vilification of the Holy Prophet (sa) in European media can neither be isolated from cross-currents of contemporary anti-Muslim politics in the region, nor from a peculiar history of religious and cultural hatred against Muslim peoples over the last millennium. For the Western liberal order in the post- Communist era, Islam is the quintessential ‘Other’- the evil enemy that does not share their values of ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’. The West, in their narrative, represents all that is ‘liberal’, ‘progressive’ and ‘modern’, in that order. Correspondingly, Islam is deemed the negation of all that ‘civilization’ and ‘culture’ stands for. Under this skewed logic and perverted reading of history and blatant distortion of the lived experiences of people, a political and cultural climate is created that incites the lampooning of the sacred symbols of Islam. Thus, anyone who abuses the religion of Islam or vilifies the father of Muslims automatically and instantaneously becomes a champion of free speech and liberty. Muslims who oppose such characterizations and resist these representations would be branded intolerant and worse. In short, anti-Islam hate speech that vilifies Holy Prophet (sa) would be mere expressions of freedom of speech and artistic liberty and those who oppose such elements are projected as the real trouble-makers.
In the name of free speech and artistic freedom, Danish,
Norwegian, Swedish and French newspapers in the last decade and more have been regularly
offending Muslim devotional sensibilities through their Mohammad Cartoons, especially with their publication of the ones in
which the Prophet is depicted as wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse
protruding and the ones with a body of a dog. In the name of liberty of
expression and cultural freedom, the faith of the Muslims is being sullied in
Europe today: parading and projecting a most hateful image of the religion of
Islam, and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa). In seeking to insult and dehumanise the
symbols of Islam in the eyes of the general public, the culprits are indulging
in a ‘cultural war’ against Islam, or the increasing presence of Muslims in Europe.
Instead of fairly and responsibly dealing with the complex legacy
of their national histories- of colonial subjugation and imperial overreach in
Muslim lands, and the related issues of Muslim immigration and cultural accommodation
of minorities in a changing society, European racism and xenophobic politicians
are catering to narrowly- construed ‘national’ interests and are fuelling
Islamophobia and other forms of hate speech against the Muslim ‘Other’. Indeed,
what is on full display in media today as Mohammad
Cartoons does not promote any academic or artistic debate on free speech or
artistic expression; but only fuels cultural ignorance and social prejudice,
religious intolerance and inter-community hatred, racial bigotry and unbridled hostility
against Muslim minorities in Europe.
Fulfillment of A Prophecy
... Soon very soon now, Oh people! The evil of the evil-doers shall be to no avail to them. Pitiable shall be their condition after the striking of the divine punishment of God Almighty on them. Let the promoters of peace of every faith continue to strive for peace and let the Muslims be one and hold solid faith in our All-Powerful God, but verily Allah may retard a punishment but He shall strike when the detractors, haters and enemies of Islam least expect it!”
Likewise, in a
Divinely-inspired message on 07 December
2011 Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) reiterated his earlier
warnings and passed on this Divine Message:
“[t]he consequences of these people shall be grievous after what they have done. Allah Almighty shall seize them for the way they depicted His beloved Messenger (sa). These wretched ones shall burn in the greatest of fires, and they shall neither die nor live. Divine malediction shall pursue them in this world till they meet their final destruction.”
In accordance with the prophecy of the Elect and Servant of God Hazrat Imam Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius, the fiery end of a criminal in the eyes of God took place on Sunday, 03 October 2021. Lars Vilks caricatured the Prophet as a dog. And Allah (swt) seized Lars Vilks in the way he depicted the Holy Prophet (sa) - he died like a street-dog coming under the wheels of fire in a road crash in broad-day light; the body was charred in an explosive fire of extraordinary proportions.
A Witness Account
Markaryd resident John Karlsson lives near the place where the fatal accident occurred on Sunday afternoon (03 October 2021). A few minutes after the crash, he was in place and saw the devastation, and he is reported to have described the situation to the Swedish Television Network:
Explosive fire
The first thing he saw when he arrived at the scene of
the accident was a truck that was leaning across the road and on fire. He
explains that other trucks stopped and the drivers tried to help put out the
fire. But according to John Karlsson, it looked unprofitable.
- It was a very explosive fire and thick smoke spread
all over Markaryd, he says.
"Understood that it must be
something big"
The fire brigade was on site after about five to ten
minutes. In addition to the rescue service, he also saw civilian police
cars with blue lights and a helicopter hovering in the air.
- It was such a move so you understood that it must be something big. It did not feel like a normal traffic accident, says John Karlsson.
CONCLUSION
Like Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) noted in another discourse:
'Islam and the Muslims harbour no hatred or animosity towards the Christians and other faiths in general, but we are ever ready to protect the honour of our prophet (pbuh) and religion (Islam) even at the peril of our lives and honour and we conduct this war against the real culprits, not innocent people who have kind regards and respect for our religion.... Indeed, as is clear this Jihad (sacred war) is not of the gun or any mundane weapon. Our weapon is prayer to the Almighty who in His vast knowledge and wisdom knows how to make the culprits pay back for their hatred and calumny. We are weak but Allah is never weak. He knows at what time and which place to put His plan into execution, to make the world see where truth lies, especially in the times of a Divine Manifestation, in the presence of a Messenger of Allah, a Caliph of Allah. Allahu A'lam; And Allah knows best. Soon very soon, each and every person in his very own decreed/appointed time.
A little piece of advice:
Never ridicule the pure religion of Allah, or His prophets for Allah shall make you pay back your infidelity piece by piece until nothing is left of you. Remember, this world is temporary whereas the hereafter is eternal. It is preferable to suffer in this world than the next world. Never go against Allah and His prophets, especially the best of mankind, His beloved Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)....' (Friday Sermon of 16 January 2015).