PETALING JAYA – A manager of a printing company was fined RM8,000 by the magistrates’ court here today after pleading guilty of hiring a non-Muslim company to bind 3,800 copies of the Quran.
Magistrate Farah Azura Mohd Saad handed down the sentence after the accused, Muhammad Hatim Ab Wahab, 34, pleaded guilty to the charge.
Farah also criticised the accused for failing to conduct his due diligence before assigning duties to a non-Muslim.
“As a Muslim, you have to know that this (printing the Quran) is sensitive to the community and so on.
“You have the authority to print the Quran, so you have to be mindful of who can be involved in such sacred work,” she said.
Hatim, the manager of Tihani Cetak Sdn Bhd, was previously accused of allowing the binding of approximately 3,800 copies of the Quran at Hua Mei Industry Sdn Bhd, a factory located in Seri Kembangan, Selangor.
Additionally, Sum Yew Hom, 41, the manager of Hua Mei Industry Sdn Bhd, was charged for aiding in the printing of religious texts without a licence from the Quran Printing Control and Licensing Board.
Sum was charged under Section 5(1) of the Printing of Quranic Texts Act 1986 and may face the same punishment – a fine amounting to RM8,000 and a prison sentence of five months.
Prosecuting officer Surieyani A. Razak from the Home Ministry requested the court impose suitable punishment on both of the accused as a lesson.
However, both of the accused, who were not represented by a lawyer, appealed for a lighter sentence on the grounds that this was their first time committing an offence.
Hatim said that his company hired Hua Mei Industry Sdn Bhd because it has up-to-date equipment to bind the Quran, and many of the company’s employees are Muslims.
“We overlooked this. It is a mistake. We apologise for the mistake and promise not to repeat it,” he pleaded.
Sum, on the other hand, appealed for a minimum fine on the grounds that he did not know that the binding of the Quran by a non-Muslim was an offence.
“I was only hired to bind the Quran. I didn’t know it was a mistake. It’s my first mistake, and I ask that the sentence be reduced,” he said. – April 23, 2024