“The best Muslim country is Norway,” says Conservative Party politician Arina Aamir (20) to SIAN leader Lars Thorsen. She believes that human rights came with Islam, that Islam has freedom of religion, and that Islam means peace. The two met for a heated debate in the series “Arina Meets the Critics”, a podcast collaboration between Aamir and Minerva.
Arina Aamir has virtually grown up in Norwegian politics, as the daughter of the two former Conservative Party politicians Afshan Rafiq and Aamir Javed Sheikh, both of whom have a Pakistani background. At the age of 18, she was elected to Oslo City Council as the youngest person ever to achieve that distinction. At the same time, she set her sights on gaining a seat in the Storting. The young Aamir has also grown up in the media spotlight. Lars Thorsen of SIAN was in fact the first person she met in a televised debate. She was then 15 years old, and in a Facebook post from 2025 she wrote that “unfortunately, what we discussed then is at least as relevant today. One-third of the Norwegian population harbours pronounced prejudices against Islam and Muslims.” She continued:
Allah and God are the same
“The fact that I pray to Allah does not make me any less Norwegian, nor does it make my values any different from yours. In fact, we are far more alike than we are different, and when we look at values such as love of one’s neighbour, helping those who have little, and respect for our fellow human beings, the vast majority agree. So the struggle is not between Muslims and Christians, or Muslims and Jews. Nor is it a struggle between Allah and God – because we all pray to the same God, regardless of what we choose to call Him. The struggle is first and foremost between those of us who believe, or do not believe, and those who wish to create fear, division and polarisation in our societies. They must never succeed,” Aamir wrote at the time.
With a clear allusion to the leader of SIAN, whom she has now chosen to debate in the podcast series “Arina Meets the Critics”.
Thorsen and the “murder-zombies”
In the podcast, Lars Thorsen is introduced under the headline “Are Muslims ‘murder-zombies’? Arina Meets Lars Thorsen from SIAN.” Not many people have perhaps heard what Lars Thorsen has had to say over the years. Audiences have often been small, while counter-demonstrators have been noisy and at times violent. But many have perhaps heard references to terms such as “murder-zombies”. Such language was somewhat absent from the conversation between the two, which eventually became heated. Arina Aamir was certainly provoked at times. For example, when Thorsen responded to Aamir’s statement that there is no requirement in Islam that women must cover themselves.
“I am completely indifferent as to whether Muslim women put on a veil or a full rubbish sack,” replied Thorsen, who believes he knows more about Islam than a Muslim such as Arina Aamir. That particular exchange may be viewed in this video clip.
Not violence, but peace in Islam
Many Islamic countries do not follow what Islam really is, Aamir told Thorsen in response to his observation that all is not simply sweetness and light in the Islamic world. Violence, for example, does not originate from Islam and the Qur’an, she argued, citing a frequently used verse.
“Whoever kills a person, it shall be as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it shall be as though he has saved all mankind.” In Islam, in my Islam, it is not even permissible to kill a fly, said Aamir.
SIAN-markering i Oslo angrepet av voldelig mobb. To arrestert
Thorsen maintained that she had forgotten to read the entire verse. He argues that the continuation authorises the killing of all non-Muslims across the entire globe. Furthermore, he maintained that Arina’s Islam matters little; what matters is the Islam of Muhammad.
Islam means peace in many ways, said Aamir. No, Islam means submission, replied Thorsen.
Islam gave us human rights
What is sharia? It is Islamic law, and Islamic law is consistent with human rights, said Aamir, who is herself a law student.
Once again, Thorsen objected. Human rights and international law are Western concepts. He referred to the fact that Islamic countries in 1990 established their own human rights framework, the so-called Cairo Declaration. Everyone has rights insofar as these do not conflict with sharia. In these Islamic human rights provisions, Islamic values are presented as superior, and all rights are subordinated to Allah, as historian Terje Tvedt has described in an article in Aftenposten.
Arina Aamir believes that sharia promotes human rights. Sharia is Islamic law, and in Islamic law, which originated in the sixth century, there is a great deal that is compatible with human rights in 2026. Human rights came with Islam.
Thorsen disagrees. He believes that Islam granted rights to Muslims, and granted rights to men. Nor does he believe that there is equality before the law in Islamic law, sharia, as Aamir contends.
Norway is the best Islamic country
“I believe that the best Muslim country in the world is Norway. Western values and Islam go hand in hand,” Aamir says optimistically.
She herself has had a rather privileged upbringing. She has met politicians, prime ministers, royalty and other senior leaders from a very young age. She has celebrated Pakistan’s national day and received political appointments from Pakistan, including membership of the country’s climate coalition in September 2025. The first time she delivered a speech was at the age of ten. On that occasion, she appeared together with Jonas Gahr Støre at an upper secondary school.
“Today marks five years since I was allowed to be Norway’s Minister of International Development for a day. What I was engaged in then, and what was the very beginning of my engagement – girls’ education and opportunities everywhere in the world – is unfortunately at least as important today as it was then,” she wrote on social media in October 2025 about her experience of serving as a minister in Norway for one day when she was 15 years old. Accompanied by a photograph of herself sitting in the presiding chair at the Storting.
It was Dag-Inge Ulstein who lent her his office so that she could serve as Minister of International Development in his place, something that was duly noted both domestically and abroad. The 15-year-old was mentioned, among other things, in press releases from the Norwegian government and in online newspapers that we assume are Pakistani. There she was described as Pakistani.
Wants to ban the niqab and burqa
Arina Aamir has dared to criticise aspects of Islamism and also aspects of her parents’ homeland. She believes that the burqa and niqab should be banned, and she could not imagine finding a partner from Pakistan because of cultural differences. Aamir has also been subjected to threats because of some of her views. So serious have these threats been that she carries a personal safety alarm. This is something that, among others, Document has written about.
Arina is a woman “changing Norway”
“How does it feel to be only 15 years old at your first encounter with public debate? How does it feel to carry the responsibility of being an elected representative for Oslo’s 724,000 inhabitants at the age of 18? And how do I combine studies, politics, podcasts, family, friends and leisure? I have had the honour of being one of 37 women interviewed for the book ‘Women Who Are Changing Norway’, written by the talented KG Stave and Cathrine Løland. The book also includes Lise Klaveness, Kristin Clemet, Hanne Krogh, Guri Melby and Tonje Brenna. It is an honour to be included in a book alongside many of the women who inspire me most, and to be regarded as one of the women ‘changing Norway’. In the book, I share a little about my story, my engagement and my belief that no goal is too great and no dream is too small. There will be many people who try to limit you and tell you that you are not good enough or do not know enough. But no one knows better than you what it is like to be exactly you in Norwegian society in 2026. Therefore, you must dare and have the courage to stand up and speak your case,” she wrote on Facebook ahead of the book launch in March 2026.
Believes the Constitution resembles the Qur’an
Arina Aamir also states in the podcast with Thorsen that there are many similarities between the Qur’an and the Norwegian Constitution.
In that case, the Fathers of the Constitution must have been mistaken, since they attended church services frequently while drafting Norway’s constitution. Not any mosque.
We find only a brief Wikipedia article about Arina Aamir, and only in English. Her mother, Afshan Rafiq, is mentioned there, but her father, Aamir Javed Sheikh, is not mentioned at all. Her father established the celebration of Pakistan’s national day in Norway; in 2014, Kjell Magne Bondevik declared himself willing to travel to the Middle East to raise funds to convert the old Munch Museum into a museum of Islam, including a mosque, though nothing came of the proposal. Shortly before Christmas 2025, Sheikh was sentenced to one year’s unconditional imprisonment for gross breach of fiduciary duty against foundations he himself had established, the 14 August Committee and the Foundation Dialogue for Peace. Arina Aamir is, of course, not responsible for this, but perhaps that is why her father is not mentioned. The case was appealed, but we have not seen any final resolution.