From ink to sacred text, Malaysia's Quran makers blend craft and faith

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — There’s a ritual that all workers must observe before entering the printing room of Malaysia’s largest Quran production center. Known as “wudu,” it’s a purification that Muslims perform ahead of prayer to prepare mentally, physically and spiritually.“If they want to touch the Quran, if they want to work, they have to always be in wudu,” said Muhammad Asyraf Amir, a guide at the Nasyrul Quran Complex in Putrajaya, about 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.Malaysian authorities describe Nasyrul Quran as the world’s second-largest Quran printing center, after the King Fahd Quran Complex in Medina, Saudi Arabia.According to the Saudi Press Agency, the Saudi facility produces more than 20 million copies annually and offers translations in 79 languages. Its Malaysian counterpart can print up to 3 million copies a year in 30 languages.How a Quran comes to lifeNasyrul Quran prints around 15,000 copies a day, with 50 to 80 workers carefully overseeing productio