KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Other than Arabic, the government will not allow the Quran to be published in Roman script or other languages.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said this was clearly stated under the Printing of Qur’anic Texts Act 1986 (APTQ 1986) (Act 326).
“The Quran must use the original text which is in Arabic only in this country, this is clearly emphasised by the ministry.
“The Home Ministry (KDN) also refers to the Muzakarah Committee of the 24th National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) meeting on June 5 and 6, 1989 that it was ‘haram’ (prohibited) to write or use any part of the Quran with non-Arabic writing or not the Quranic writing system,” he said.
He said this when winding up the debate on the Printing of Qur’anic Texts (Amendment) Bill 2023 which was later passed in the Dewan Rakyat here today.
In addition, he said every company allowed a license to print the Quran must meet the guidelines for license applications for printing the text of the Quran under APTQ 1986, and must obtain the services of two consultants with proper credentials to avoid mistakes during publication.
Meanwhile, on the issue of digital Quran applications now widely available on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, as raised by members of parliament during the debate, Shamsul Anuar said the government encourages the people to use the Smart Quran application as an alternative.
He said the application was developed in collaboration with the Home Ministry, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and had gone through the review and certification process by the relevant bodies.
The application had gone through a review process by the Al-Quran Tashih Board and was certified by the Al-Quran Printing Licensing and Control Board (LPPPQ), he said.
“Based on KDN’s review, there are many digital Quran applications in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The review found that some used the Rasm (writing script) Uthmani, which is used in this country, while others used other Rasm.
In other developments, Shamsul Anuar said that out of the one million copies of the Quran to be printed, as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in January, 25,000 copies of the Quran and 40,000 ‘Tafsir’ in Chinese, Tamil and Nigerian languages are in the printing process.
“So far, the ones printed have been distributed during the Prime Minister’s official visits abroad, including Cambodia on March 27, with 1,500 copies distributed while the rest will be coordinated by the Home Ministry through specific channels,” he said.
Besides this, he said KDN has also started an initiative to monitor Braille Quran copies to ensure they follow the Rasm Uthmani script.
— Bernama
