Don’t accept free copies of translated Quran, says interfaith council

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the patron of a project to hand out one million copies of the Quran to the public. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, February 9, 2015.

The national interfaith council today advised non-Muslims to reject translated copies of the Quran aimed at “lessening misconceptions and alleviating the fear of Islam among non-Muslims.”

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) was referring to a project organised by the Islamic Information and Services Foundation under which one million copies of the Quran will be produced and translated into Tamil, Chinese, English and Malay to be distributed to the public.

The statement said the project’s patron is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“The reason and example advanced by Tun Dr Mahathir on the need to distribute the translated version of the Quran to non-Muslims specifically does not make sense,” it said in a statement today.

It said Dr Mahathir further gave an example of “the verse that allowed Muslims to kill non-Muslims only touched on one event in the history of Islam. It does not mean we are told to kill other people”.

“It is Muslims who are indulging in killing and condemnation of other religions and religionist. Therefore, the need is for Muslims to be educated on the true teachings of Islam and not non-Muslims,” the statement said.

- TMI