TRAVEL cross-country in advanced nations and we will find quaint towns in which there are quaint bookshops with rare books and quaint museums and art galleries. These constitute the valued heritage, funded knowledge and received wisdom of the communities.
We have yet to develop such centres of valued heritage. One such centre in Selangor is Yayasan Restu, which has made a strategic impact. It has produced the Al-Quran (authenticated by the authorities) in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Hausa.
Its innovativeness is reflected in its exploration of Islamic graffiti. It has networked globally with Islamic art lovers across all continents and has special projects with countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand and their cultural institutions.
Yayasan Restu focuses on the production of Al-Quran, adorned with motifs of flowers and plants in the tradition of the handwritten Quran before the advent of print and digital media. Sanskrit, Chinese and Islamic calligraphy is about the creative union of the mind’s eye, the fingers and the pen, beautifying the panorama of humankind’s wisdom and its various civilisations.
Islamic calligraphy with variations in style captures the depth of simplicity of faith and philosophy in the arts and in architecture. Montage, calligraphy, and zukhruf are creatively generated with calm passion. The foundation has trained calligraphers renowned for their mastery of calligraphy.
When there are deviationist teachings and actions by individuals and groups blemishing Islam, institutions like Yayasan Restu have steadfastly promoted the straight path of Islam.
A non-Muslim, K. San Tan, wrote in response to the Yayasan Restu contributions: “The work of people in the foundation brings benefits to Islam compared with those who demonstrate and take advantage of controversial issues and create enmity and enemies towards Islam.
“The efforts of the Yayasan to engage non-Muslims are nobler than those who are arrogant. Reading religious texts create a calming rhythm, heart and thoughts, which are tranquil. People with proper religious knowledge and understanding are not crude. Those who read and memorise religious texts are on the path of goodness and do not create enmity.”
Abdul Latiff S. Mirasa is the leader who has dedicated his life to the Restu mission of mobilising resources in the cause of the right path, reclaiming and spreading knowledge in Islamic and Malay heritage of the arts and sciences. Lives are changed by providence and self-understanding of destiny and the will to achieve mission.
Latiff was a schoolteacher who became a businessman, then a politician, then a missionary of knowledge and the arts. Providence has it that he was moved to continue his educational mission through Yayasan Restu that he established in 1987, a significant living centre of Islamic art celebrating refinement and beauty, of creative and innovative minds.
His dream is to distribute the holy book free to all those in need of divine guidance. The mission is to drive Yayasan Restu to be a global centre of Islamic arts. With its experience of two decades of generating content knowledge of Quranic and Islamic arts as well as the contributions of the Malays towards Islamic civilisation, Yayasan Restu resolved to manage such knowledge, share and disseminate it through a learning organisation, which it established as Restu College.
The college offers short, diploma and degree-level courses on Islamic calligraphy, Arabic language, Islamic English, Intensive Jawi and Methodology and Naskhul Quran, Mushraf Arts (Islamic Fine Arts and Calligraphy), Islamic Early Childhood Education, Islamic Banking and Automotive Engineering, Bachelor of Sharia and Bachelor of Medicine (in collaboration with Universities Malahayati, Bandar Lampung, Indonesia). Yayasan Restu also publishes books of guidance for individuals to improve their lives towards spiritual self-actualisation.
When people visit the Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque in Shah Alam, Selangor, they can enjoy the educative experience regarding the history of Al-Quran writing and production, at the adjacent Taman Seni Islam Yayasan Restu Complex.
There are thousands of Malay motifs in the produced Quran, all of which reflect piety. In addition, there is always the Exhibition of the Awe Inspiring Heritage of Religious History, Civilisation and the Arts. If the world were to end, which books would mankind save for the future? Scholars say the holy books should be the ones saved and encyclopaedias.
The work of getting people to read holy books and great books of humankind is the challenge of teachers. Within a religious tradition is the challenge of people to read and understand holy books as guidance for living, here and in the hereafter.