Norwegian police warns people against profaning Holy Quran

A Norwegian police commissioner has warned of punishment for defiling the Holy Quran and delivering hate speeches, a foreign news agency has reported.

The police commissioner said that everyone had the right to freedom of expression as long as it did not violate the law and profaning the Holy Quran could result in a violation of the criminal code of conduct. If the law was violated then police would interfere, he said.

About a week ago, a condemnable and sacrilegious attempt of burning Quran Pak (naozubillah) was being supervised by police in Norway when a Muslim man, identified as Ilyas on social media, lunged towards the culprit and kicked him to stop him from doing this.

The sacrilegious act was staged by an extremist party of the European country. Muslims all over the world have condemned the incident and demanded from the Norwegian government to stop such things from happening again in the future as you could not term hurting others’ religious sentiments as freedom of expression.

Also Read: Ilyas has become most beloved person for Muslims on social media

People on social media have also demanded from their respective countries and the Muslim ummah to boycott Norway and its products in protest. Ilyas has become the most beloved person for Muslims on social media right now for his resistance against hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.

Twitter in Pakistan was set ablaze with top trends in his support which included, #ilyas_Hero_of_Muslim_Ummah, #Norway, #Defender_of_Quran, #TheGloriousQuran and #Islamophobia.

On Nov 22, Ambassador of Norway to Pakistan Kjell-Gunnar Eriksen said the Norwegian government strongly disapproved of the Quran burning in the right-wing demonstration in Kristiansand. “The police stopped the demonstration for security reasons. In Norway everyone has the right to free speech and to practice their religion without being harassed,” he said.

On Nov 23, the ambassador of Norway was called to the Foreign office to convey the deep concern of the government and people of Pakistan over the incident of desecration of the Holy Quran in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand.

Pakistan’s condemnation of this action was reiterated. It was underscored that such actions hurt the sentiments of 1.3 billion Muslims around the world, including those in Pakistan. Furthermore, such actions could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression.

The Norwegian authorities were urged to bring those responsible to justice and to prevent the recurrence of any such incident in the future.

The ambassador of Pakistan in Oslo has also been instructed to convey Pakistan’s protest and deep concern to the Norwegian authorities.