Abid Qayyum Raja[2] (born 5 November 1975) is a Norwegian lawyer and Liberal Party politician who served as Minister of Culture from 2020 to 2021.

His father Abdul Qayyum Raja (1937– ) was a factory worker who worked at the Christiania Spigerverk steel plant in Nydalen, while his mother Akthar Nasim (1949–2021) was a homemaker.

Upon his return to Norway, he re-enrolled in high-school and according to him "had his mind set on becoming a lawyer" after seeing Kevin Costner in the film JFK.

Raja was in 2003 the first non-ethnic Norwegian to receive the Norway Scholarship that have been rewarded since 1920 at University of Oxford, Wadham College and there he studied for the MSc degree in Psychology.

[13] He is thus the first person in Norwegian politics with minority background to be nominated at top of a ballot-list for National parliament election.

[14] The month after, he expressed shock after learning that the NIF had lacked to make reports and work more effectively against racism.

Producer Synnøve Hørsdal said that "Norway shouldn't waste 70 million NOK so that Raja can get a new selfie with [Tom] Cruise".

Raja defended the spending, stating that it was the Mission: Impossible production's own decision to apply for filming in the country, and the fact that they were allowed, was decided by the NFI and not him.

Raja expressed gratitude for the group's findings and encouraged them to continue their for as long as necessary, and sympathised that people wants to return to a normal summer, but that many factors are at play.

[24] Following a controversial tweet by former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt commemorating the events of the German occupation of Norway, Raja stated "9 April was one of the saddest and darkest days in Norwegian history.

Raja's proposal did however receive full support from UNICEF Norway, whose director called it an "ambitious goal" and important.

Raja expressed his support for the Workers' Youth League's uproar against the right wing extremism behind the attacks.

He also said he was going to reach out to his other Nordic counterparts to set out a strong front in support of female athletes, in the fight against the leadership of the International Handball Federation.

[31] On 24 September, Raja proposed a ban against foreign online game companies, notably Unibet, Betsson and ComeOn.

His proposal received mixed reception, with the Progress Party's Himanshu Gulati who called it “censorship, abuse of power and an attack on the free Internet reminiscent of authoritarian dictatorships”.

Several representatives from the mentioned companies either expressed they were following Norwegian law and didn't make profit as Raja accused them of.

[32] On 30 September, Raja and his Nordic counterparts issued a joint letter to the International Handball Federation calling for the rules to be changed for women's clothing.

Raja personally expressed that he hoped the letter would make time for a change against what he described as discrimination and old fashioned.

In the years 2009-2011 he organized a series of dialogue meetings at the House of Literature, with controversial topics, such as why there is hate among Muslims, Jews and homosexuals.

[39][40] In response to revelations about child abuse in a Mosque, he called for Koranic teachers which are found to have beaten children to immediately leave Norway, stating that "they are not welcome".

[41] After a memorial service for the victims of the World Trade Center attack in 2001 (at the American Church, Frogner, Oslo), he said it is "important that moderate Muslims ... share the sorrow and distance ourselves from extremist violence and acts of terror".