Afghan calligrapher creates world's largest Quran

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Reuters

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The calligrapher Mohammad Sabir Khedri, fourth from left, displays the biggest Quran in the world to Afghan officials during its inauguration ceremony in the Hakim Nasir Khosrow Balkhi library in Kabul.

Mr Khedri said he worked five years on the Quran in a bid to show the world that Afghanistan's rich cultural heritage and traditions have been damaged, but not destroyed by 30 years of war.

The book has pages 2.28 metres by 1.55 metres, and was certified as the world's largest by the Afghan ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs, according to the Kabul cultural centre that houses it.

The previous claim to the title was for a 2m by 1.5m copy unveiled last year in Russia's Tatarstan region.

The Afghan Quran weighs 500 kilograms and its 218 pages of cloth and paper, bound inside an embossed leather cover were made from the skins of 21 goats.

Mr Khedri said he would welcome ceding his moment in the spotlight to an even larger Quran made by someone else.

"I will be happier if someone else makes a bigger Quran, it is serving Islam."

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Mohammad Sabir Khedr said he worked five years on the Quran in a bid to show the world that Afghanistan's rich cultural heritage and traditions have been damaged, but not destroyed by 30 years of war.

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