25 January 2007: Holy Orders

A Saudi court has given a convicted drug user an unusual form of suspended sentence.

He faces a year in prison if he fails to recite the Koran, the Muslim holy book, by heart.

There are more than 77,000 words in the Koran and it normally takes on average two years to study. The court has given him six months to learn it.

And, in case any local JPs are listening SaintFM would like to point out that The Bible has more than ten times as many words in it ....