Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing Errors) Act, 1973

This Act aims to ensure that copies and, since a 1987 amendment, audio recordings of the Holy Quran are published or made free from printing or mechanical errors. It currently extends only to the Islamabad Capital Territory.

Section 3 requires any publisher intending to print the Holy Quran, and any company intending to record it, to register with the Auqaf Directorate, Islamabad Capital Territory, on payment of a prescribed fee. Section 4 establishes a Quran Board of prominent Ulema, Huffaz, and Qaris representing different schools of thought; the Federal Government arranges for a standard authenticated copy of the Quran to be prepared, kept safely in government archives, and uploaded online, and the Board supervises error-free printing, publishing, and recording, including online.

Section 5 sets detailed publishing rules: the Quran may be printed using offset, photostat, or other modern methods, but not litho printing; paper must not be of a type the government has prohibited; every specimen copy or recording must be compared against the standard copy and certified error-free by a qualified religious scholar or trained proofreader; every page must show chapter and verse numbers correctly; the cover must name the publisher, printer, and year; and any detected error must be corrected by replacing the affected page in every copy. No translation may be published without the accompanying Arabic text, and the Arabic text itself may not be printed on newspapers, flyers, or other disposable items — only translations may appear there.

Section 5A makes it an offence to literally distort the text of a verse (by changing a word, sequence, or vowelling in a way that changes its meaning) unless the distortion is proven to be a genuine printing or mechanical error. Section 5B similarly penalizes a non-Muslim who translates, interprets, or comments on a verse of the Quran in a way contrary to Muslim belief, again with a good-faith error defence. Section 5C requires publishers and recording companies to properly dispose of damaged or worn-out ("shaheed") copies. Section 6 sets the penalty for these and other violations at imprisonment up to three years, or a fine of not less than twenty thousand rupees, or both, and allows cancellation of a publisher's or recording company's registration on conviction. Section 7 extends liability to directors, managers, and other officers of a company found guilty, unless they can show the offence happened without their knowledge or despite due diligence.

This Act was amended as recently as 2024 (Act No. II of 2024), so much of its current wording — including the Quran Board's structure and the disposal rules for damaged copies — reflects that recent update rather than the original 1973 text; the twenty-thousand-rupee minimum fine was set by a 1987 amendment and should be checked against the current text for any further changes.