I had the honour of attending the Yayasan Restu “raya open house” at their complex in Taman Seni Islam, Shah Alam. The large throng of guests that came – ordinary people, dignitaries, Muslims and non-muslims, locals and international guests – certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. There seemed be an air of festivity.
It was an “open house” with a difference because there were lots of things to do at the Complex. Quite apart from the free flowing food, the guests took the opportunity to visit the three galleries housed in the complex.
The Restu Foundation owns three galleries which form Museum al-Quran Mushaf Malaysia displaying a number of hand-illuminated and copies of Qurans produced by their staff including various types of Islamic artistic products such as calligraphy products, Islamic craft and souvenirs.
The guests were entertained by live nasyid performances in the open arena. The auditorium was packed with guests listening to the mesmersing voice of the popular Ustad Akhil Hayy.
Dato’ Abdul Latif Mirasa, Chairman of Restu Foundation, was his usual humble and jovial self playing host to the guests, taking dignitaries around explaining the concepts and the displays in the galleries. He explained that Islamic art is a message of exceptional beauty where its pillars are driven from the beautiful words of al- Quran. He expressed gratitude that his dream that started in 1987 of publishing locally designed Al-Quran became a reality in 1999. To date they have also published two translations of the al-Quran –one in Malay and the other in English. The complex also houses Restu College which offers various courses in Islamic calligraphic arts. Restu Publications has a successful record of producing different translation of al-Quran internationally and exegesis such that it has now become the 2nd most important al-Quran printing centre after King Fahd complex for printing al-Quran in Madinah.
All in all it was an interesting
open housewith a difference!
2 comments:
J,
I was there too! It was educational for me. Of course not knowing how you look like, we may have bumped into each other. A friend brought me there.
I read both your blogs regularly. but my preference is this one.
Andrew Liew
Hello,
I am from Nigeria and I study at IIUM. I was fascinated by the the tamna seni Islam complex. I think there is so much potential there for turning it into a center of Quran research too.
Nugabi Hasan
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