THE WORLD’S LARGEST KORAN
HARD WORK really pays off well and the same can be said for the Afghan calligrapher who worked for five long years and made the world’s biggest Koran. The pages of the gigantic book are 2.28 meters (90 inches) long and 1.55 meters (61 inches) wide and the book weighs a mammoth 500 kg. The 218 pages of cloth and paper have an embossed cover made up of skin collected from 21 goats, which costs around half a million dollars. The book, which is creating quite an interest in the religious world, has been named the world’s largest by the Afghan Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, according to the Kabul cultural centre that houses it.
The man behind the momentous task, Mohammad Sabir Khedri, not only put his hours and days into the project but took the help of nine students to design the book that combines gold script with millions of tiny colourful dots that form the words of the religious scripture. Apparently, as reported in hindustantimes.com, the book was finished in 2009 but the binding or the room where it would be kept was not ready. So they kept the precious book as a secret till it was revealed at the start of the year 2012.
The book broke the record that was held previously by a 2 meter by 1.5 meter copy unveiled last year in Russia’s Tatarstan region. However, the maker, Sabir Khedri says that he would be more than happy if someone else came up with a bigger Koran. His main reason for creating such an intricate work of art was to show the world that Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage and traditions have been damaged but not destroyed by 30 years of war. The religious book has been kept in the Cultural Centre, originally founded in the 1980s, and once home to 50,000 books, a medical centre, and schools for Afghan crafts such as carpet weaving.
Everyone is really happy with the hard efforts put in by everyone to bring such a beautiful piece of art and preserve the culture of Afghanistan.
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,
ODISHA
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