Man engraves Holy Quran on aluminium sheet and on India's map

Kolkata, Aug 13 (UNI) The 'Sura-e-Kahaf' of the Holy Quran is now on a different platter.

Shiraj Hussain, who entered the Limca Book of Records in 2006 for his miniature writing, has engraved the 'Sura-e-Kahaf' (Quranic verse) in a map of India on aluminium sheet.

Talking to UNI today, Hussain, who belongs to this city, said, '' I engraved the full Quran on aluminium sheet (sized 10x12 inch in 230 pages, including both sides) within six months only, for which I have my name in the Limca Book of Records 2006 on page 30.

The same way, this time I have engraved the 'Sura-e-Kahaf' of the Holy Quran on a map of India (sized 20x24 inch) on aluminium sheet.'' The 38-year-old claimed that his was the first attempt to engrave Quranic verses on a country's map.

He wished to present this holy piece to former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, industrialist Ratan Tata and other eminent personalities of India.

'' I have been to the offices of Dr Kalam, Dr Singh and Ms Sonia Gandhi to present my miniature piece but unfortunately because of their tight schedule, I couldn't show it to them,'' he said.

Asked whether he would try to present his 'unique gift' again, he said he had managed an appointment with some of them after August 15.

Hussain, an MA in Urdu Literature from Calcutta University, started engraving the full Quran on aluminium sheet from July 18, 2003 and successfully completed it on February 2, 2004 for which he entered the Limca Book of Records.

Asked what inspired him to engrave Quranic verses on a piece of aluminium sheet, he said, '' When I was in Mumbai, I stumbled upon some utensil sellers engraving the names and addresses of their customers on metal sheets in miniature forms and from there, the idea of engraving the Holy Quran on an aluminium sheet struck my mind. '' UNI