The European religious history in the last millennium is stained with despicable attacks on Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa). The culprits, in their ignorance and hostility, seek to insult and defame the faith of the Muslims, parading and projecting a most hateful image of the religion of Allah (twa) and slandering and caricaturing the fair name of its Holy Founder so as to destroy his reputation in the eyes of the general public in their societies. Contemporary caricaturing of the Holy Prophet (sa) in the Western media essentially inherits this imbecility from that unfortunate legacy of hate speech and blasphemy, and all of this is indulged in the sacred name of liberty of expression and press freedom.
As a Divinely-raised Warner and the Mujaddid (Reviver of Faith among the Muslims) of our times, Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius has, on several occasions in the last decade, spoken up against this caricaturing of the Holy Prophet of all Muslims in the western press, warning that such offences are punishable in this very world and the repercussions shall be worst for the culprits and their societies. In the aftermath of the recent incidents involving Charlie Hebdo, political analysts confirm that the attacks indeed constitute an "earthquake" for the French society, parading the inadequacies of the French Republic to come to terms with the societal transitions in its backyard and the collective failures in imagining a shared future that accommodates the diversities and integrate the people on the basis of its professed, foundational principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. The astonishing prophecy issued by Hadhrat Sahib (atba), warning the Charlie Hebdo and the likes in 2011, had been documented at that time in the Blog and can be read here.
Presented below are brief remarks on the Chalie Hebdo attack in Paris made by the Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) in his Friday Sermon of January 16, 2015:
Before coming to the heart of my Khutba Jummah (Friday
Sermon) on the duties and obligations of parents towards their children, I
would like to say few words concerning the Paris “Charlie Hebdo” attack.
As you all know by now, on Wednesday 7th
January 2015 some people opened fire on the newspaper staffs (among others) of
“Charlie Hebdo” in France (12 victims), in one of the abominable bloodshed on
the soil of France, as the news channel and other media do not hesitate to state.
And as usual, Islam is being blamed for such atrocity and not the people behind
it.
And as you all know, years ago, around 2006 and 2011,
in the backdrop of the first cartoon calumniation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh), I issued a prophecy, a clear warning that those who shall play with the
purity of the person of the Holy Prophet of Islam shall be punished by Allah,
the Most High. Indeed liberty of expression is one thing and calumniating the
heart of a religion on the basis of a so-called liberty of expression is
another. Indeed the Messenger of Allah cannot tolerate that a single
calumniation be brought on the person on the Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and I
shall continue to defend his honour till my last breath.