‘You cannot quote from the Quran’

Sialkot cleric threatens pastor for using Quranic verses in his sermon.


Rana Tanveer May 23, 2012
‘You cannot quote from the Quran’

LAHORE:


A cleric in Sialkot district disrupted a Saturday mass, abused the pastor and is now threatening to register a blasphemy FIR against him for drawing upon verses from the Quran during his sermon.


Pastor Messiah George* had been invited by Data Zedka village Christians to give a sermon at the local church.

According to Arif Hameed*, a school teacher who arranged the pastor’s visit, Qari Muhammad Fazal* disrupted the mass around 11 pm, abusing the pastor and threatening to kill him. Fazal had objections to the pastor reading Quranic verses during his sermon. “He [Fazal] tried to get through to the pastor but we were able to help him escape,” said Hameed.

Fazal called the police to the church but by the time the police reached the church, the pastor had fled. Police officials were able to “persuade the Qari” to go home after assuring him that action will be taken against the pastor.

The next morning local Christians, said the school teacher, apologised to Fazal who is still insisting that the pastor “confess to his crime”, and publicly apologise for quoting the Quran. “Fazal has warned us that we will be responsible for the consequences,” he said.

Hameed said they had also sent women to the cleric’s wife and mother to apologise. “But Fazal’s adamant that the pastor apologise over the megaphone,” he said. Hameed said that they feared agitation by Muslim residents.

Fazal, when contacted, told The Express Tribune that Pastor George had “tried to justify the Christian point of view by giving Quranic references.” He said his “blood stared boiling” when he heard the pastor quoting from the Quran. “Yes, I abused them. I would have killed the pastor right there and then but I could not arrange for a weapon,” he said.

He said he had given an application to the police, asking that they file a blasphemy FIR against the pastor and the parish.

The police, however, told him that they would ask the pastor to apologise to the cleric at noon on Thursday (today) at the office of the DSP concerned. “In case the pastor does not come,” said Fazal, “I will get the FIR registered.”

He described the police as “followers of the American agenda of protecting the Christians”.

SHO Khalid Dar, however, denied receiving an application from the cleric. He said they were trying to “resolve the matter amicably” with the help of locals.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of parties involved

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2012.

COMMENTS (90)

Abid Habib | 12 years ago | Reply Sultan Khan That is what the problem is all about. Most of the Qarris, Mullah and Zakirs are free to qote the Holy Bible in their own way. I guess they prefere to keep it like this to keep us non-Muslims and the women folk of the country under their control. they can feed us with their interpretations but will never listen to our view and if they do, it will be only with the intention to see how wrong we are. We cannot be right.
Sultan Khan | 12 years ago | Reply

@Anon: If the christians should not quote from the Quraan then why our mullahs quote from the Bible e.g. every mullah tells in his sermons that the news of the arrival of the Prophet (PBUH) has been specifically mentioned in the Bible.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ