The third official edition of Mus’haf Qatar, the first Qatari print of the Holy Qur’an, includes 672,000 copies of different sizes, Dr Khalifa bin Jassim al-Kuwari, adviser to HE the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, said.
Al-Kuwari, who is also supervisor of writing and printing Mus’haf Qatar, said in a press conference yesterday that the third edition, the contract for which was signed in March 2015, is the first in the era of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The first edition was launched in 2010 and the second in 2013.
He noted that Mus’haf Qatar is one the achievements of HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and has become a symbol for Qatar because it is written specifically for the State of Qatar and is printed inside the state.
The third edition has the same specifications of the previous two editions, but this year the state had certain conditions with regard to the printing house which was required to use German printing machines not more than 10 years old that should print 10 colours at a time.
Al-Kuwari underlined that Qatar was keen to observe the technical conditions for printing the copies and the specifications of the printing house in terms of efficiency and ability to work throughout the day, the modern printing machines and the quality of the paper that are made specifically for the Mus’haf, etc.
The third edition included 672,000 copies of six types and five sizes: 70,000 copies of pocket size, 70,000 copies of hand size, 450,000 copies of medium size, in addition to the bigger sizes and luxury copies and the largest size which was printed in nine colours.
The total cost of the third edition of Mus’haf Qatar is worth about QR17mn, 19% less than that of the second edition, al-Kuwari said.
He stressed the ministry’s keenness to check the Mus’haf copies during and after the printing process, and before approval and distribution through specialised teams.