KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says he will ensure that Islam continues to be upheld as the religion of the Federation, besides providing sufficient allocation for the organisation of Islamic knowledge programmes.
At the same time, he also assured that every non-Muslim citizen’s rights would be preserved and they would always be treated with respect and have a comfortable life.
“I will assure and continue to reiterate here in this country, whilst Islam is the religion of the Federation, I will continue to defend the faith, uphold the religion, continue to promote Islam and provide enough allocation and support for training, understanding and implementing Islamic programmes,” he said.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the officiation of the 63rd Malaysian International Al-Quran Recitation and Memorisation Assembly (MTHQA) 1445H/2023 at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre here tonight.
Also present were the prime minister’s wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar.
Meanwhile, Anwar said the Islamophobia that occurred in the world was due to certain parties who had superficial thoughts about Islam.
“That’s why when there burning incident of the Quran in Sweden, apart from condemning it, I decided to order the publication of the Quran in all languages including Swedish, (a total of) one million Qurans to be distributed in Malaysia and the rest of the world.
“15,000 al-Qurans have been sent to Sweden to be distributed to universities and study centres so that they can evaluate and read, and for me, for the government, this move is more reasonable to give them an understanding (of Islam),” he said.
Anwar said he would also be having a discussion with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the follow-up measures to deal with the issue of Islamophobia in New York, next month.
Regarding MTHQA, Anwar said it was a platform not only for the recitation and memorisation of the Quran but also an effort to increase the understanding of the holy book.
He said Muslims should study and appreciate the Quran in order to be able to provide explanations and awareness to the people of various races and religions in this country.
MTHQA which is held from today until Aug 24 involves two competitions, namely Quran recitation and memorisation.
This year’s edition features 76 participants from 52 countries, namely 24 men and 12 women for the recitation category and 27 men and 13 women for the memorisation category.
Malaysia has four representatives, namely visually impaired ‘qari’ (male reciter) Muhammad Qayyim Nizar Sarimi from Kelantan and Nor Hidayah Abd Rahman (female reciter) from Terengganu for the recitation category, while Ahmad Ikmal Mohd Ridhuan from Johor and Dian Karisma Mohd Japar from Sabah will be taking part in the memorisation contest.
