Madinah – (IINA)January 05, 2008 – The King Fahd Holy Quran Printing Complex of Madinah is exerting great efforts in spreading the message of the Holy Quran and the Prophet’s Tradition (Hadith) since its inception 23 years ago. It has attained proper care and attention from the government of Saudi Arabia, headed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, in carrying out its great mission, according to a report of the General Secretariat of the complex. The report highlighted the efforts being made by the Saudi government to serve Islam and Muslims by facilitating the complex to print and distribute the holy book in its original Arabic language as well as its translations and interpretations in a large number of world languages.
Since the establishment of the Complex, about two million Muslims from around the world visited the complex. It has distributed 25 million copies of the Holy Quran among the Haj pilgrims until the Haj season of 1427/1428. This was in implementation of the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to provide a copy of the Holy Quran and other publications of the Complex to the pilgrims. It continues to distribute the holy book as a gift of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to every pilgrim on his departure from Saudi Arabia after performing their Hajj rituals.
It is noteworthy that the foundation stone for the complex was laid by King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz on Muharram 16, 1403 and opened it on Safar 6, 1405. The Higher Commission of the Complex is headed by the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammad Alu Al Sheikh and is comprised of Eight members. The Complex not only print and distribute the Holy Quran but also focuses on taking care of the Prophet’s Tradition and Islamic studies as well as engaging in research works pertaining to the holy book and Hadith. The report showed that the Training Center, a subsidiary of the complex, has held more than 12 training courses for over 300 technicians.
The printing capacity of the complex amounts to 10 million copies on an annual schedule of a single shift. More than 160 publications are produced by the Complex, including copies and recordings of the Holy Quran and Hadith as well as the Prophet’s biography with their translations. It is estimated that the number of research works on the Kingdom’s care for the Holy Quran and Prophet’s biography which were published until 1428 reached more than 220 million copies. So far, the Holy Quran is translated into 47 languages – 24 Asian, 11 European and 12 African languages.
The complex, which spreads over an area of 250,000 square meters, is an integrated unit where there is a mosque and buildings for management, maintenance, printing, warehouses, transportation, marketing, housing, recreation, clinic, library, restaurants and other facilities. The complex has an integrated factory for manufacturing, printing and packaging Compact Discs (CDs) with a capacity of 840 CDs per hour.
The complex also circulates its publications in Arabic on the website, with links in six other languages, namely English, French, Spanish, Urdu, Indonesian and Hausa.
The number of workers at the complex is 1700, including Islamic scholars, university professors, technicians and administrators. The percentage of Saudis working at the Complex is 77%, the report added.