Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha |The Nation/Asia News Network
BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has expressed appreciation for the gift of 50,060 copies of the Koran from the king of Saudi Arabia, the government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said Prayut appreciated the kindness of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for granting the Koran copies printed in Saudi Arabia to Muslims in Thailand.
The Koran copies were handed over to Thai representatives in a ceremony on February 26 in Bangkok by representatives from the Saudi embassy and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Islamic academics and leaders from several provinces represented the Thai side to receive the holy books.
The holy Koran copies are printed by the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an and they are distributed to Muslims worldwide by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The holy books are normally sent to Muslims worldwide as gifts before the holy month of Ramadan.
The spokesman said Saudi Arabia used to send the holy books to Thailand years ago and the gift was renewed as the two kingdoms have normalised ties.
The Koran has been translated into 76 languages and the King Fahd Complex has increased the printing capacity from 7 million copies a year to 20 million copies a year. At the end of 2021, some 345 million copies of Koran have been printed by the complex and over 320 million copies have been sent as gifts to Muslims around the world.
The spokesman said the gift of the Koran books by the king of Saudi Arabia reflected good cooperation and ties and the acceptance of Thailand’s role of promoting a plural society and harmony among people of different faiths in the eyes of the international Muslim community.
RELATED STORIES
Thai, Saudi officials meet over case of young Saudi woman
Thai police say they won’t deport Saudi woman seeking asylum
Saudi teenager’s fate hangs in the balance
Thai hajj pilgrim shows MERS symptoms