PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to uphold Islam as the religion of Malaysia while providing enough funds for the organisation of Islamic knowledge programmes.

He also assured non-Muslim citizens of their rights and that they would always be treated with respect.

“I will reiterate that here in this country, Islam is the religion of the federation. I will continue to defend the faith, uphold the religion, continue to promote Islam and provide enough allocation and support for training, understanding and implementing Islamic programmes,” he said.

He was speaking at the launch of the Malaysian International Al-Quran Recitation and Memorisation Assembly at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre last night.

Meanwhile, Anwar said there is Islamophobia in the world because some people have only superficial knowledge of the faith.

“That’s why when Quran burning took place in Sweden, apart from condemning it, I decided to order the publication of a million copies of the Quran, in all languages, including Swedish, to be distributed in Malaysia and the rest of the world.

He said 15,000 copies of the Quran were sent to Sweden to be distributed to schools to promote a better understanding of Islam.

Anwar said he would be meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the United States next month to discuss how to counter Islamophobia. – Bernama, August 20, 2023.