An unrecorded and thus extremely rare trilingual publication of the 36th surah, known as the Ya Sin (sometimes called "the heart of the Qur'an", though the meaning of the name, two characters in the Chinese alphabet, remains uncertain). The 83 verses of text are presented in a naskh Arabic script with a transliteration in the Latin alphabet for phonetic reading, together with the English and Mandarin Chinese translations. It was compiled by a Hong Kong imam and printed and published "with the compliments of the Mission of Hong Kong Muslims" in 1385 AH (= 1965 CE) by the Hong Kong Muslim Press for the local Muslim community. The presence of both a Chinese and an English translation is due to Hong Kong still being a colony and dependent territory of the British Empire (1841-1997) at the time of publication. This pamphlet, containing the so-called "heart (or core) of the Qur'an", was most likely intended for distribution among and consumption by the region's small Muslim population.
The relative influence and importance of Imam Ma Tat Ng and his work in Hong Kong is reflected in the fact that one of the locations of the library of the Islamic Union of Hong Kong is named after him.
We have not been able to locate any other copy of this work.
With the wrappers slightly dust soiled, some very small wormholes throughout the volume, small dark brown spots in the gutter margin (caused by the staples) and some very slight foxing throughout. Otherwise in good condition.