LAHORE - Saudi Arabia has offered financial assistance for building Pakistan’s first state-owned Quran Complex here in the federal capital, officials confirmed on Sunday.

Earlier, Religious Affairs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri announced that the government wanted to build the complex in the federal capital to preserve historical manuscripts of the Muslim scripture.

“This would be the first government-owned Quran complex. We have got offers of financial assistance for the building of the complex from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-based World Muslim League and some other Gulf countries,” spokesman of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Imran Siddiqui said in an interview with Arab News.

He added that the ministry has already initiated the process of land acquisition near the Golra area of in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

The center will also oversee and set standards for the publication of the Quran in the country and would recycle worn pages of the holy book.

“This would be a huge complex on approximately 10-Kanal land in Islamabad. The complex will have different sections like error-free publication of new Quran and a plant for the recycling of worn pages of the book gathered from all over the country,” Siddiqui said.

Dr Masoom Yasinzai, rector of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), hailed the plan as one that can be unifying for Muslims.

“In this Quran complex they should also work on research to unite all the Muslim from different schools of thought in Pakistan. The government should take guidance from the Quran complex in Medina. It should have a proper board, editing, evaluation and monitoring system for the error-free printing of the Quran,” he said. According to Dr. Muhammad Khalid Masud, former chairman of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology, it is a constitutional obligation of the government to oversee the publication of the Quran.

“Under the Constitution of Pakistan, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure error-free publication of the Quran. It would be a good step if the government can implement standards like Saudi Arabia for the publication of the holy book in Pakistan,” he said.