Earlier today, the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad visited Norway’s National Parliament, the Storting, in Oslo. His Holiness, was greeted by a number of national MPs and was given a tour of the Storting, before having a private meeting with President Terje Anderson in the Presidential Office.
Arriving just before midday, His Holiness was welcomed by Mr Are Helseth MP and a group of other MPs from the ruling Labour Party. Mr Helseth then gave His Holiness a tour of the Storting which is a unicameral legislature made up of 169 members. During the tour, His Holiness appreciated the architecture of the various rooms and in particular praised the architectural design of the actual Parliament House.
Following the tour, His Holiness held a private meeting with the President of the Storting, Mr Terje Anderson, in which various matters were discussed by the two leaders.
Thereafter, Mr Are Helseth hosted a reception of MPs in honour of Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. During this reception Mr Helseth officially welcomed His Holiness to Norway and spoke of the Government’s appreciation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. He spoke too of the tragedy of 22 July 2011 in which dozens of innocent Norwegian citizens were brutally killed and said that though some of the scars from that attack would never heal, yet the Government remained fully committed to its programme for open democracy.
Mr Helseth then presented His Holiness with a gift of special Parliament cufflinks.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad then briefly addressed the reception. He said:
“I would like to thank you for your kind gesture of inviting me and for giving me a tour of the building. I was very pleased to meet with the President of the Parliament.
The message of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has always been a total opposition to all forms of extremism and terrorism. Our Community has also been the target of terrorism in certain countries and thus we are able to empathise fully with the tragic incident that took place a few months ago here in Norway. I pray that May God bless the souls of those who were killed and grant comfort to all those who have been left bereaved.”
Thereafter His Holiness presented the various MPs with a gift of a miniature model of the new Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Norway which will soon be officially opened. In response one of the MPs commented that the new mosque was a beautiful building that could be seen by anyone travelling from the national airport and thus had instantly become an important Norwegian landmark.