The Fiery End of Lars Vilks

 

'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. 

Terrorists, Islamophobes and Our Faith

CURBING VIOLENCE & RETURNING TO ISLAM

No one can deny the fact that terrorism, barbarism and violence are among the “malaise” from which the Islamic world is suffering in today’s fast growing global world. The rush and invested energy to seek and work for material progress has on the other hand brought about the moral and spiritual decline of human beings, including Muslims. They find their spiritual foundations shaken and to further complicate the situation, it is not a secret to anyone that a few Muslim countries have become the greatest producers of drugs and other intoxicants which are exported to African and Asian countries where there exist a majority of Muslim countries, and this despite the fact that Islam condemns the consumption and sales of intoxicants.

Modern psychologists and specialist doctors in the field had discovered that an excess of drugs and other intoxicants lead to terrorism and violence in the various forms they exist. Under these circumstances, the American and European mass-media have caught the golden chance to present the Muslims as a band of terrorists in the late 20^th Century for the simple reason of frightening the non-Muslim world and to tarnish the image of Islam. And, during the 1990s, the mass media embarked on an aggressive campaign to accuse the Muslims as barbaric people who are still living in the pre-Islamic age and given to debaucheries by frequently using the connotation “Jihad” in their own distorted comprehension. This campaign of theirs have gained all the more weight at the turn of this new era (the 21^st Century) when a so-called or well-planned venture to depict Muslims as terrorists was put into execution with the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the World Trade Centre and Pentagon Attacks).

Islam's Legacy: Non-violence

The greatest Muslim and non-Muslim historians can bear testimony to the fact that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has never, on any single occasion during his prophetic mission in Mecca or Medina used violence to counteract his enemies’ persecutions, but it can be safely said, without exaggeration, that he was the first leader to have taught “non-violence”. However, today “non-violence” is associated with Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela when people at large tend to forget the teachings of Islam which are universal. It is equally true to mention that with the present situation, almost all religions in this modern age are in a state of crisis; but Islam being a complete code of life does not lack solutions to the problems of violence affecting society. 

'No' to Aggression; Only self-Defence'

Never Insult the Beliefs of Others

"...I would like to briefly address on the unfortunate incident which has transpired last week (04-05 September 2015) at Rivière des Anguilles in the South of Mauritius. The Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and this humble self strongly condemn what some strong-headed and senseless “Muslims” have done at the Amma Tookay Temple, wrecking some idols found there under alcohol influence.

Islam is a tolerant religion, and preaches no compulsion in religion and respect for others. Both Allah, our Glorious Creator and our perfect role model, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) have both condemned such acts because, when one, in occurrence a person who says he is Muslim abuses and wrecks the idols of other faiths on his own, then he is in fact inviting the other party to abuse Allah and Islam and to wreck the perfect teachings of Islam.

And secondly, alcoholic drinks are absolutely forbidden in Islam. Thus the acts of these people are not Islamic at all. Instead they are presenting a dirty image of Islam and its teachings. May Allah protect His Deen-e-Islam from such senseless people who are only “Muslims” in name and who portray Islam as tolerating violence and terrorism. Ameen..."  (From the Friday Sermon of September 11, 2015)

Never Insult Others

It is very unfortunate to see what had happened in the south of Mauritius, as I told you last week how a few idiots spoiled the image of Islam and its teaching. Was all that they did Islamic? First, by the despicable way they behaved, they disobeyed the commandments of Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). So these kinds of people cannot say that they are Muslims. 

I ask those who have the habit of giving fatwas (judgements) on who are Muslims or not, therefore, with such vile actions – and from the teachings of Islam vis-à-vis other religions – can these people still be considered Muslims? 

The religion of Islam has never granted permission to insult, provoke or denigrate people or their beliefs. 

Rather Islam teaches Muslims that tolerance in religion (Islam) is a virtue, and therefore, a Muslim by the belief he professes, he must be someone friendly and who ensures protection for the life, honour and property of his countrymen.

He must not do anything wrong to harm the reputation of others and should respect the beliefs of others and their places of worship.

The Holy Prophet (saws) said that the best Muslim is the one whose hand and tongue do not harm anyone.

A Warning to an Ahmadi Amir in Kerala

As the 2013 Jalsa Salana of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, Kerala was taking place at the Noor’ul Islam Masjid in Mathra on December 22-23, members of the Jamaat from outside the place were also present there. Some of them had a Tabligh encounter with Mr. Abdul Saleem, President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Mathra, Kerala. 

Mr. Saleem had so much confidence in his own theological positions that he invited our brothers to his house for a discussion on the Divine Manifestation in Mauritius. Once the discussion started and he realized that his blind faith in the Ahmadiyya Khilafat cannot withstand the critical scrutiny of Qur’anic guidance, he lost his original plot of “guiding the brothers”. As his nefarious plan to deviate the brothers collapsed like a pack of cards, the host came under satanic impulses and sobriety and civility vanished into thin air. He fumed with rage, started a virulent, verbal attack on the guests, abusing and vilifying the Divine Manifestation, the Divine Messenger and his humble disciples. Starkly reflecting the path travelled by one Muhammad Hussein of Batala, who infamously predicted the end of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya with the death of the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as) in the previous era, the fatally unfortunate Mr. Saleem expressed the same curses on the new Divine Manifestation of our times.

In his Friday Sermon of December 27, 2013 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius took serious note of this development and warned this Amir and those like him who wishes to see a bad end for the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam in very profound words of advice:

Anti-Islam Film is ‘Hate Speech’

For the Western Orientalists and their intellectual progenies, 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 this 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 and the vilification of Holy Prophet (sa) would be mere expressions of freedom of speech and intellectual liberty and those who oppose such elements are projected the real trouble-makers! [Inset: A protest march in Cairo against the recent anti-Islam Film].

In a special speech on September 17, 2012, the Messenger of Allah and Khalifa of Islam Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius took note of the disturbingly, deviant social trends in the western world which incites the vilification of the noble character of the Holy Prophet (sa). The Khalifatullah (atba) took serious note of these contemporary trends where Muslims and their sacred symbols are treated as “doormats...to rub their dirty feet...” and warned the anti-Islam elements and hate-mongers against what they are sowing. 

 Read the Extracts from the Speech:

And if Allah were to punish people for what they do, He would not leave upon the earth any creature; but He grants them respite until an appointed term. And when their time comes, then Allah has all His servants ever under (His) sight. (Fatir 35: 46)