Word: koran
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Fahd had the Koran-based education of a desert prince, but his six sons have been sent to schools in Europe and the U.S. Unlike Faisal, Fahd has a weakness for certain Western luxuries; he drew criticism from conservative Saudis when he spent five months vacationing in Europe last year, staying there even through the holy month of Ramadan. Still, he is unlikely to loosen up the country's rigid Islamic ways abruptly...
Despite his wealth and power, Faisal lived simply and ascetically; his code was the Koran and his customs those of a Bedouin Arab. He neither smoked nor drank, prayed five times a day, and was anxiously concerned with the welfare of his subjects. Thus he continued the tradition of the majlis, or weekly royal audience, at which Saudis were free to approach their King with a message or a petition. No matter how farfetched or long-winded the complaints, Faisal would listen patiently. "If anyone feels wrongly treated, he has only himself to blame for not telling me," he said...
...eight sons to U.S. and British colleges to study, then gave them jobs in government when they returned home again. Against the protestations of traditional Moslems, Faisal went ahead and abolished slavery, opened schools for girls and introduced television to his kingdom. At the same time, he kept the Koran as the law of the land. Harsh penalties continued to be handed out to those who violated its proscriptions against adultery and the drinking of alcohol. Even today, public executions of murderers are occasionally carried out in the main public squares of Saudi Arabian cities...
...definitely get prominent play in the next Koran Allah commissions...
Both the Bible and the Koran make sternly clear the manner in which injury is to be avenged. "Thou shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth," says the Book of Exodus. In Sura II of the Koran the Prophet advises: "O believers, prescribed for you is retaliation touching the slain; freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female." Unfortunately for the Middle East, this sense of bitter, retaliatory justice persists to the present...