Oman launches Muscat e-Quran

With the blessing of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Muscat e-Quran was launched yesterday, under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture.

Dr. Salim bin Hilal Al Kharousi, Preaching and Guidance Adviser at the office of the Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, said that the Muscat e-Quran was unique in its innovation. It is the second version, after King Fouad’s version of the Holy Quran, which was not written electronically. 

He added that it is the first version that cares for all details of the Uthmanic calligraphy against every single word in the Holy Quran, resulting in various writings of the words according to the calligraphies that scholars agreed upon.

He said that the Muscat e-Quran has been the main reason for the membership of the Sultanate in the Unicode, pointing out that the membership of the ministry in this union is the first Arab country that gets this priority and thus we have contributed to the preservation of the Holy Quran.

He added that the ministry has intellectual property rights for this project so that we can manage and operate by training the ministry’s employees in this regard, as well as the preservation of the Arabic language and is an Omani achievement registered with the Unicode.

Dr. Abbas Shoman, Deputy of Al Azhar in the Arab Republic of Egypt delivered a speech in which he stressed that the Holy Quran has been, since the first days of Islam, in a place of care and attention of Muslims where they memorised and understood and transferred from generation to generation and is still written in modern books and printed copies that people read.

Dr. Mohieldin Afifi, Secretary-General of the Islamic Research Academy, pointed out in his speech to the efforts of the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in the field of taking care of the Holy Quran and its service, highlighting its cultural values and the splendor of the Quran in form and content.

He added that the Muscat e-Quran has been reviewed by the Holy Quran Committee in the Islamic Research Academy at Al Azhar. The Committee has made outstanding efforts over three years in auditing and reviewing and taking into account the matching of the Holy Quran with the approved calligraphies by the concerned parties in writing the Holy Quran.

Dr. Thomas Milo, executor of the Muscat e-Quran showed a presentation on the characteristics of the Muscat e-Quran. He pointed out that the electronic text in the Quran contains grammatical and writing rules that are extremely complex and cannot tolerate distortion.

The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has the intellectual property rights of the Muscat e-Quran project. The protection against e-piracy is provided by Deco Type, the executing company of the project and until the training of the Ministry’s employees on operation and management.

The Sultanate has made great efforts in copying and publishing the Holy Quran since the date of its entry into Islam beginning from the eighth year of the noble Prophet migration.

The most prominent features of these achievements are the version of Abdullah bin Bashir Al Sohari in 1157 AH, the version of calligrapher Khamis bin Sulaiman Al Harthy in 1186 AH Masoud bin Khalfan Al Riyami in 1249 AH. All the efforts before and after those versions are different efforts added to this prominent cultural heritage.

In the glorious era of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has played a clear role in the publication of the Holy Quran, beginning with printing, to teaching in the Quran schools by a group of teachers of the Holy Quran in all governorates of the Sultanate, and ending with spreading of religious awareness about its contents and provisions and principles across the preaching and guidance frameworks, linking the issues of the age and society with its provisions and guidance through a series of research, studies and various seminars.

Source: Timesofoman