Muslim NGO rues threats for handing out Quran

 

The Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM) has lamented that it received threats and curses on social media for simply handing out copies of the Quran to the public.

MRM president Firdaus Wong Wai Hung said such threats and curses have picked up since news that free copies of the translated Quran will be distributed to the public by the Islamic Information and Services Foundation under its ‘One Soul One Quran’ programme.

Wong (middle) said this is despite the programme having nothing to do MRM as it had been handing out copies of the holy book since last year.

“Recently the threats have become more serious and we are consulting our lawyers whether to lodge a police report.

“It is not that we want the police to arrest anyone but it is for our protection,” he told a press conference at the MRM office in Wangsa Maju today.

Among the unsavoury messages MRM received on Facebook, Wong said, were wishes for members of the NGO and their family to die in accidents.

MRM was recently mistaken as being behind the One Soul One Quran programme after a photograph of its van was circulated on Whatsapp accompanied by a message warning non-Muslims against receiving the Quran.

Wong said MRM has since lodged a police report over the matter yesterday to set the record straight.

Elaborating on MRM’s own free Quran programme, Wong said he cannot explain why some non-Muslims are anxious about receiving the Quran.

Wong also held up translated copies of other holy books including Buddhist scripture and the Al-Kitab, stating: “We do not feel anxious over this, I don’t know why some non-Muslims are anxious.”

He also denied trying to covertly convert non-Muslims to Islam.

“We have no power or authority to change the status of any person’s religion in official records as we are only a Muslim NGO,” he said.

'Obtaining a Quran does not make someone a Muslim'

Wong echoed Department of Islamic Development Malaysia director-general Othman Mustapha in saying that obtaining a Quran does not automatically make someone a Muslim.

“We do not force anyone to convert to Islam as there is a clear prohibition against this in the Al Quran Chapter 2 Verses 256 which states that there is no compulsion in religion.

“Anyone, including Muslims or non-Muslims, can own and read the translation of the noble Quran for knowledge and to clear misconception of Islam,” he said.

Wong urged anyone upset with MRM to engage his organisation in dialogue instead of verbally abusing the NGO.

“Our neighbour next door is also a church, we engage with them all the time, no problem,” he said.