The Police hierarchy in South Africa has rendered an apology to the Muslim community after a police officer reportedly made a blasphemous comment about Prophet Mohammed.
The profane comment was made while police officers were conducting an arrest on male worshippers in Mpumalanga on Friday.
The officer can be heard asking those being arrested if the Prophet Mohammed who is highly revered in Islam was bigger than President Cyril Ramaphosa who announced a ban on public and social gatherings.
“Are you bigger than the president? Is Mohammed bigger than the president?” the police officer said.
The comment was captured in a video which went viral on social media.
#Lockdown See @SAPoliceService at a prayer facility… pic.twitter.com/IHwGnYxp1v
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) April 25, 2020
The Council of Muslim Theologians, Jamiatul Ulama South Africa, condemned what it said was the police’s “abusive tactics”.
It said the verbal abuse of the Prophet Mohammed and the entering of the prayer room by the police with their boots on, were “distressing to Muslims”.
But South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele has condemned the reported comments made by the unknown police officer considered disparaging to Prophet Muhammad.
Cele said the incident was “a matter that is currently under an urgent investigation by the SAPS to establish the identity of the person behind such sacrilege”.
But the police minister said the police had a constitutional obligation to enforce the laws of the country.
Source: Africafeeds.com
