Swedish Home/Domestic matters are only getting more complex…..some say getting worse
There’s a lot of talk, the natural fallout from the tragedy of the two brothers who wanted to turn Lars Vilks’ home living into a burning hell: a foretaste of what eternal life could be like in the lake of fire called Jahannam. Their motivation was clear enough and understandable. I suppose that they still have this kind of regard for the unrepentant Vilks : ” He is God’s enemy, he is the Prophet’s enemy, he is the Muslims’ enemy.”
It does not mean to say that the brothers represent the reaction or best wishes of all Swedish and non-Swedish Muslims….or that Lars Vilk’s miserable life here on earth is any safer, or that the sentencing of the brothers to jail time, is necessarily a deterrent to those who may be planning to succeed in doing Mr.Vilks the artist, grievous bodily, if not spiritual harm. Of course he has the right to regard himself as a prospective martyr – for artistic license’ sake and for the purpose of setting a good example, but I’m sure that he himself is sceptical of any heavenly sexual reward for his labours – he must know that in such circumstances there will be not even one blessed virgin lined up and waiting, for him to love.
But this is a period of mourning and one should not joke about even such matters.
The news item about the brothers being sentenced to long periods of jail for attempted arson has generated diverse comments from both peaceful but verbally aggressive Islamophobists and other law-abiding bigots, who apparently do not understand how venerated the prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam, is, by true Muslims. Without a doubt , more venerated than any living monarch, prime minister, pope, priest, priestess, disciple or Bishop, anywhere.
Fortunately, the fallout has not reached the kind of uncontrollable level of hysteria that we also find HERE
Whilst the bigots and Islamophobists are self-righteously – and in the name of tolerance & a free licence for all kinds of artistic expression still busy preaching “ When in Rome, do as the Romans” – they are of course aware of what’s called globalisation – as we slowly inch towards a more universal morality. The instinct of survival and self-preservation must surely be strong enough in Mr. Lars Vilks, along with good horse sense, that his hopes of survival or of entering paradise with his head still on his neck would be considerably diminished if he were to attempt selling his “work of Art” whilst on a visit to countries like Saudi Arabia or the Islamic Republic of Iran, in which case even Carl Bildt will be moaning, “ Vilks only has himself to blame”
So why purvey his stuff here?
At source there is the Fifth Commandment and to my way of thinking, one of the ways of honouring Mary and Joseph for the days to be long in the land where we live is for us to not dishonour/disrespect any other mums and dads and their offspring or go out of our way thereby putting our lives in jeopardy by dishonouring any human being, the way that Lars Vilks has done.
You may be thinking of Sir Karl Popper and wondering about what’s going to happen to our “ Open Society,” here in our Sweden if we cave in to fear of certain consequences of our hatred or disrespect? You know that it’s a very rational, Swedish national motto :”Lagom är bäst “– not very different from Buddhist terminology about moderation in all things…..
There’s also this tragedy to remind us of another act of arson of greater scope and scale by those Romans who can understandably also be regarded as God’s enemy.
http://www.ou.org/shabbat_shalom/article/nations_loss/
Shabbat Shalom – everyone!