BuffyMars
01-28-2007, 03:46 PM
RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi court has ordered a drug user to spend six months memorizing the Koran, but he faces a year in prison if he fails to recite the Muslim holy book by heart, a newspaper said Tuesday.
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The "alternative sentence" saves the Saudi man from Jeddah from a six-month jail term, al-Watan said. But that sentence will be doubled if his Koranic recitation classes fail to make him a "hafez," someone who knows the Koran by heart.
There are more than 77,000 words in the Koran. It takes on average two years to study.
Saudi Arabia's religious courts apply strict Islamic sharia law. But it is largely uncodified and judges have wide discretion when it comes to sentencing.
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The "alternative sentence" saves the Saudi man from Jeddah from a six-month jail term, al-Watan said. But that sentence will be doubled if his Koranic recitation classes fail to make him a "hafez," someone who knows the Koran by heart.
There are more than 77,000 words in the Koran. It takes on average two years to study.
Saudi Arabia's religious courts apply strict Islamic sharia law. But it is largely uncodified and judges have wide discretion when it comes to sentencing.