The ministry did not ban Qorans printed in other non-Muslim countries, just those from China.
Officials have not given any examples of the spelling errors or said how many errors there were. Nor have officials said whether the errors were in Arabic or Farsi versions of the Qoran.
While all Chinese Qoran imports were forbidden, the Culture Ministry did not identify the printer who made the error-nor did anyone say if multiple printers were involved or if all Chinese printers were being penalized for the errors of one.
Furthermore, in recent decades, printers have normally worked from texts sent to them electronically. It would be unlikely that a Chinese publishing house would be inputting a Qoranic text in either Farsi or Arabic. The Arabic text is immutable and readily available electronically. A Farsi translation, of which there are many, would normally be transmitted from Iran. The Culture Ministry has not explained who did the typesetting and made the spelling errors.
In announcing the import ban, Deputy Culture Minister Bahman Dorri cited economic reasons for the ban. “Importing copies of the Qoran from China is not to the benefit of culture or even the economy of the country,” he said. “Therefore, we need to boost this industry here and support publishers of the Holy Qoran.”
He said, “Some cultural figures believe that publication of the Holy Qoran outside Iran is due to a shortage of printing presses, but I must point out that the development of the printing industry inside the country is one of the major policies of the ministry.”
That led some to speculate that the real reason for the ban was pressure from domestic publishers who want the Qoranic business. Some booksellers have said that they went to China because the printing costs there were much lower than in Iran.
