KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s desire yesterday to see Malaysia immediately issue one million copies of the Quran to be distributed worldwide as a response to the burning of the holy book in Sweden will see the effort expedited.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department and Yayasan Dakwah Islam Malaysia will hold discussions over the matter soon.
“They will also work with the Prime Minister’s Office to coordinate the distribution of the copies,” he told reporters after attending the Walimatul Urus Perdana mass marriage solemnisation programme organised by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council at Dataran Merdeka here today.
Na’im said apart from being a response to the incident, the distribution of copies of the Quran published by Yayasan Restu would also give the world community an opportunity to appreciate the content of Islam’s holy book as its interpretations were available in various languages.
“When the interpretation is made available in various languages, we hope that the Quran is not only recited, but that its content can also be understood better... for that, we will work to speed up its printing and distribution as desired by the prime minister,” he said.
Yayasan Restu is well known for the production of Quran manuscripts and Quran-related publications with exclusive designs.
Yesterday, Anwar said that Malaysia strongly condemned the actions of extremist right-wing Swedish-Danish politician Rasmus Paludan in burning a copy of the Quran in Sweden recently, and agreed that the move by the Restu Foundation to distribute copies of the Quran globally would be the most beneficial way to respond to the impudent act. – Bernama, January 29, 2023
