カトリックから改宗のきっかけに、世界最小級コーラン　アルバニア

【ティラナ（アルバニア）ＡＦＰ＝時事】アルバニアの首都ティラナに住むマリオ・プルシさん（４５）さんが執り行う「儀式」はいつも同じだ。まず両手と顔を清め、世界最小級とされるイスラム教の聖典「コーラン」にキスをし、それを額に当てる。（写真は世界最小級のコーラン。アルバニアの首都ティラナで）
　２センチ四方、厚さ１センチというこのコーランの豆本は、プルシ家で数世代にわたり受け継がれてきた。
　専門家によると、記録に残っている中で最小級とみられる。長い年月を経て黒ずんだ銀色の保管ケースには小さなルーペが埋め込まれており、これを使ってようやく文字が判読できる。
　製本時期は、科学的な分析を行っていないため推定が難しいが、ティラナにあるベーデル大学のコーラン研究者は少なくとも１９世紀まではさかのぼるとみており、「類いまれな」この豆本が「アルバニアにあるのは幸運なことだ」と述べた。
　このコーランは、プルシ家がカトリックからイスラム教に改宗するきっかけにもなったもので、一家にとって重要な意味を持っている。
　「高祖父母がコソボのジャコビツァに新居を構えようと地面を掘っていると、完璧な保存状態の男性の遺体が見つかった」とプルシさん。「コーランはこの遺体の胸の上に、無傷で置かれていた」
　一家はこの発見を神のお告げと受け止め、イスラム教に改宗したという。
　その後、共産主義の独裁者エンベル・ホッジャ政権下であらゆる宗教が禁じられ、信者は投獄された。しかし、豆本だった故に容易に隠すことができ、今日まで残されている。
　２０１２年、父親が亡くなる直前にコーランを受け継いだプルシさんは、「この小さな本には、たくさんの物語や恵み、奇跡が詰まっている。非常に大切なものだ」と話した。
　妻のブレリナさんもＡＦＰに対し、「触れるたびに心動かされる」と語った。
　美術館などから買い取りの申し出は幾つもあったが、「売るなんて考えたこともない」というプルシさん。「このコーランはわれわれ一族の物。これからもずっと一緒だ」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/09-16:49）

The ritual is always the same. Mario Prushi carefully washes his hands and face before kissing and pressing one of the world's smallest Korans to his forehead.
For generations, the postage stamp-sized book has been passed down in his family -- surviving wars and one of the world's most fanatical godless regimes.
Scholars say it is one of the smallest Korans on record, with the minuscule holy book held inside a silver case blackened with age.
We have kept it from generation to generation with absolute dedication, Prushi, 45, told AFP at his home in Tirana.
Just two centimetres (0.7 inches) wide and one centimetre thick, the book almost disappears in the palm of Prushi's hand, and it can only be read with a small magnifying glass embedded in its case.
The Koran is difficult to date in the absence of scientific analysis, but according to Elton Karaj -- a researcher in Koranic studies at Beder University in Tirana -- the 900-page copy has been around since at least the 19th century.
This Koran was printed in a very small format, one of the smallest in the world. From its appearance, its publication dates back to the end of the 19th century. It is an extraordinary work, very valuable. It is fortunate that this copy is in Albania, said Karaj.
- Miraculously preserved -
But its size is not the only remarkable thing about the Koran. It is also responsible for converting the Prushi family from Catholicism to Islam.
My great-great-grandparents were digging the ground for a new house in the Djakovica region of Kosovo when they found the perfectly preserved body of a man buried there, said Prushi.
The Koran was found intact laying over his heart.
The family took the discovery as a divine sign and embraced Islam.
His grandfather, an officer in the army of Albania's King Zog in the 1930s, knew Arabic and would invite friends to his home every night to read verses from it.
Years later, under the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha -- who completely banned all forms of religion and sent all practicing believers to prison -- the book survived in part because it could be so easily hidden.
Someone had notified the secret police that we had a Koran in our house, but it was so small that my father managed to hide it. The agents moved heaven and earth without finding it, said Prushi.
- 'Blessings' -
Following the incident, Prushi's father Skender decided to entrust it to friends in neighbouring Kosovo after smuggling it across the border hidden in a lorry full of coal.
He only recovered it only after the war in Kosovo in 1999, where it was buried during to save it from the fighting.
Prushi then inherited the Koran shortly before his father's death in 2012.
This little book carries so many stories, blessings and miracles. It is very dear to me, said Prushi.
Every time I touch it, I am moved, his wife Blerina told AFP.
When something goes wrong or when our daughter is sick, we feel reassured, we know that the Koran will protect us, it is a real talisman, she added.
The family has received numerous offers to buy it, including from museums.
I never think of selling it, said Prushi. This Koran belongs to our family and it will always stay with us.