Malaysia plans to translate and distribute one million copies of the Qur’an in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil “in an effort to correct misleading interpretations of Islam.”
“Earlier, there was no controversy over the teachings of Islam. But now, many things have surfaced. Sometimes the reaction is extreme,” former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said at the launch of ‘One Soul, One Qur’an’ project at the Kuala Lumpur Tower, Iqna reported.
He said there were many interpretations and teachings on Islam these days that were not actually based on the religion. “They like to portray Islam as a cruel, unreasonable or unjust religion and that makes non-Muslims in Malaysia afraid of Islam, when the reality is, there is nothing to fear,” he added.
The project is organized by the Islamic Information and Services Foundation. Dr Mahathir is the project’s patron. Apart from the translated copies, the project will also distribute explanations on specific verses to prevent misunderstanding among non-Muslims.
Mahathir said it was important for Muslims to return to the teachings of the Qur’an to avoid misinterpretations. “There are so many interpretations now by so-called leaders and we get obsessed with the leaders and what they say, when the truth is, their interpretations do not follow the real teachings. We are divided into factions and accuse one another of being un-Islamic. This is why reading and understanding the Qur’an is important,” he said.
