KOTA KINABALU, March 25 — A Dusun version of the Al-Quran will be available for the Dusun-speaking community here to encourage better understanding of the Islamic holy book.

Malaysian Kadazan Dusun Murut Muslim Organisation chairman Nicholas Sylvester said that he wanted to come up with the Dusun language Quran after speaking to people in the community.

"It was my idea after consultation with many people.

"It was translated to the Dusun language to ease understanding, while the original Arabic scripts are still retained alongside the translation, and prayers are still conducted in the Arabic language,” he said when speaking to Malay Mail.

Sylvester said translating work began in 2019 by an Arabic language expert and took about two years to complete, before design, artwork and printing.

It then went through vetting by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and Home Ministry until it approval was received last year.

It is due to be officially launched by the State Governor Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin on Sunday.

"The book will be distributed to Dusun-speaking people all over Sabah, through my organisation,” he said.

He said that previously data showed that about 22 per cent of Dusun people in Malaysia were Muslims — or roughly 120,000, although the figures would likely have changed since he last checked.