I learned from Dr. J. Oacek of the Oriental Department of Charles University in Prague that a distinguished Czech orientalist had translated the Quran into Czech. It was an excellent translation, according to Dr. Oacek and, within a few weeks of publication, was completely sold out.
This shows how great are the opportunities for propagating Islam at the present time. There are evidently vast numbers of people in the world today who would like to study Islam from its original sources, but who just cannot do so because of the non-availability of the requisite books in languages which they know. There is obviously a crying need for the Quran to be translated into all languages, and to be published and distributed in every corner of the globe. But, surprisingly, Muslims have shown little or no interest in this way of propagating Islam.
A Muslim from South India once told me how a Christian friend of his had had to go to great trouble and expense to acquire a translation of the Quran. This friend told him that the Muslims were no match for the Christians when it came to propagating their faith, for, as he said, he only needed to make one phone call to say that he needed Bibles for distribution and, within a few hours, 5000 copies would be brought to his office.
Of late, efforts to have the Quran translated, published and distributed, have been made by Saudi Arabia and a few other Muslim countries, but the numbers of copies produced fall very far short of the actual demand.
Considering that the Muslims are bearers of the true religion, and that their greatest task is to communicate God’s religion to the whole of mankind, it is unconscionable that they appear to take so few practical steps towards its effective propagation.
