The world’s largest copy of the Qur’an was recently unveiled in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was created painstakingly by calligrapher Mohammed Sabir Khedri and his 9 assistants, over five long years. The massive project was undertaken by Khedri in an attempt to prove that the rich traditions and heritage of the nation have certainly not been destroyed by war.

The giant Qur’an is made with beautiful gold scripting that also combines millions of tiny colorful dots to create symbolic decorations around the pages. Khedri said he wanted to use as many tasteful colors as possible to make the holy book look beautiful. Interestingly, he had actually completed the project in 2009, and kept it a secret for two whole years. This was because the binding and the room to house the book weren’t ready yet. Khedri’s masterpiece is now stored in a cultural center in Kabul that was founded in the 1980s. The final copy consists of 218 pages and measures 2.28 x 1.55 m. It weighs a whopping 500kg and the skin of 21 goats was used to create the cover. It’s estimated cost is around £300,000 ($465,000).

Photo © Mohammad Ismail/REUTERS

As a devout Muslim, Khedri says that he wouldn’t mind if someone made a Qur’an bigger than this one. “I will be happier if someone else makes a bigger Qur’an. It is serving Islam.” The copy of the Qur’an previously considered the largest, was unveiled last year in the Tatarstan region of Russia. Even so, Khedri’s masterpiece is still not the largest book in the world. That title is held by the Kudhodaw Pagoda, located in Burma. Of course, that’s not a very fair comparison, considering the pagoda consists of 730 stone tablets (1,460 pages), each measuring an impressive 1.78 metres by 1.05 metres.

via Gulf News