From ink to sacred text, Malaysia's Quran makers blend craft and faith

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — There’s a ritual that all workers must observe before entering the printing room of Malaysia’s largest Quran production center. Known as “wudu,” it’s a purification that Muslims perform ahead of prayer to prepare mentally, physically and spiritually.

“If they want to touch the Quran, if they want to work, they have to always be in wudu,” said Muhammad Asyraf Amir, a guide at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, about 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian authorities describe Nasyrul Quran as the world’s second-largest Quran printing center, after the King Fahd Quran Complex in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the Saudi facility produces more than 20 million copies annually and offers translations in 79 languages. Its Malaysian counterpart can print up to 3 million copies a year in 30 languages.

Nasyrul Quran prints around 15,000 copies a day, with 50 to 80 workers carefully overseeing production.

The process begins with pages printed on large sheets, which are inspected to ensure the colors meet the required standards. Specialists then check for errors before approving the sheets for the next stage.

These experts, known as Lajnah Tasheh, must either be fluent in Arabic or know the entire Quran by heart.

Once approved, the sheets pass through machines that fold around 8,000 sheets an hour. The folded pages undergo another check before being assembled into sections, sewn together and bound in hard covers.

The Lajnah Tasheh then conduct a second inspection. Each Quran is also weighed individually to help detect missing or extra pages.

Asyraf said each copy should weigh approximately one kilogram (2.2 pounds). An unusually heavy or light copy could indicate a problem.

Islam reached the Malay Peninsula by the early 14th century. Muslim traders facilitated its spread over centuries, traveling along maritime routes connecting Southeast Asia with India and the Middle East.

It is now Malaysia’s majority religion, practiced by 63.5% of the population, according to the country’s latest census in 2020.

Copies of the Quran circulated in Malaysia long before Nasyrul Quran opened. Its founder envisioned an edition that reflected his country’s artistic identity.

“People thought of the Quran as coming from Arab countries,” said Abdul Latiff, chairperson of Yayasan Restu, the nonprofit organization behind Nasyrul Quran. “Then we found out that we could train people to copy the Quran.”

The project began in 1987 with a team of just two people. It took them 10 years to complete their first manuscript.

“Copying the Quran is an art because it has calligraphy,” Latiff said. “The script itself is an art.”

Malaysia is not an Arabic-speaking country. Learning the language, therefore, became an early challenge for Latiff’s team.

Calligraphy and Arabic training were followed by efforts to find ways to “illuminate” each manuscript. The term refers to a centuries-old art of decorating pages with intricate patterns, vibrant colors and sometimes gold accents outlining floral and geometric motifs.

“We also emphasize Islamic principles of beauty, coming together and working together,” Latiff said. “Religion is not based on any race or culture. It is a worldwide culture that adapts itself to local colors and motifs.”

His facility not only translates the Quran into dozens of languages. Each edition also features flowers and other motifs inspired by the countries where those languages are spoken.

Latiff said their Chinese Quran took seven years to complete. Professors and lecturers who spoke both Chinese and Arabic oversaw its production. All of its decoration and colors are inspired by China.

“In Beijing, when you go to a mosque, it is different from mosques in Arab countries or Malaysia,” Latiff said. “The beauty of Islam is that it adapts itself according to local colors, motifs and traditions.”

The Nasyrul Quran Complex showcases rare Quran manuscripts, including Mushaf Malaysia, a handwritten edition.

Copying a single page takes six to 10 hours. Completing the entire Quran, which has around 600 pages, can take two to seven years.

Yayasan Restu trains its own calligraphers at a college where students learn Islamic calligraphy and Quranic art. Each master develops a distinctive style, recognizable by the spacing between letters and the thickness of the strokes.

Some manuscripts produced by these masters are particularly valuable. One edition created for a former prime minister features 302 designs and is valued at 35,000 ringgit ($8,600).

Nasyrul Quran produces copies for both sale and donation. Nongovernmental organizations requesting Qurans for charitable distribution receive them free on the condition that they are not resold.

Latiff said the complex aims to translate the Quran into 30 additional languages over the next few years, part of a broader mission to make Islam’s sacred book accessible across cultures.

“We want to tell people: ‘Look, we can live together. Islam is a religion of peace,’” he added. “The idea is to use art to make people love beauty. And through beauty, peace will come.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Visitors stand near calligraphy art displayed at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Visitors stand behind stacks of copies of the Quran at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A worker operates machinery in the production area at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Visitors view copies of the Quran in a display case at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Muhammad Asyraf Amir stands in front of a display featuring pages of the Quran at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Visitors stand beside a cloth embroidered with calligraphy at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Abdul Latiff, chairman of Yayasan Restu, the nonprofit organization behind Nasyrul Quran, speaks with The Associated Press at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Workers stand among stacks of books at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Visitors look at copies of the Quran displayed at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The tech consultant convicted in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee was sentenced in San Francisco on Tuesday to 16 years to life to prison.

A jury in December 2024 found Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder, rejecting the defendant's claim that he had acted in self-defense. He has remained in custody since his arrest nine days after the April 4, 2023, killing.

Before imposing the sentence, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon rejected Momeni’s request for a new trial. His attorneys have said they plan to appeal.

Members of Lee’s family addressed the court on Tuesday, including his 18-year-old daughter, Scout Lee, who spoke directly to Momeni.

“You did not just end his life, you ended an entire future built around a man,” she told Momeni, according to media reports.

Momeni, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, maintained that he acted in self-defense. He told Lee’s family that he understood their loss.

“Unfortunately, we have completely different understandings of what transpired,” Momeni said.

Lee, a renowned tech mogul, was found staggering on a deserted downtown street, dripping a trail of blood and calling for help. Lee, 43, later died at a hospital.

Prosecutors said Momeni planned the attack on Lee, driving him to an isolated spot under the Bay Bridge and stabbing him three times, including once to the heart, with a knife he took from his sister's kitchen. They said Momeni was angry with Lee for introducing his younger sister to a drug dealer she says gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually assaulted her.

But Momeni testified on the stand that Lee was the one who attacked him with a knife, angry after the tech consultant chided him about spending more time with his family instead of searching for a strip club that night. Momeni, who studies martial arts, said he didn't realize he had fatally wounded Lee or that Lee was even hurt.

Lee had created mobile payment service Cash App and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin when he died. He had recently moved to Miami from the San Francisco Bay Area, where his ex-wife Krista Lee lives with their two children, and had returned to California for a visit.

Jurors in the end rejected a charge of murder in the first degree, which required prosecutors prove that Momeni acted deliberately, willfully and with premeditation. Murder in the second degree does not require premeditation.

FILE -Nima Momeni, the man charged in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, makes his way into the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for his arraignment in San Francisco, May 2, 2023. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool, File)