**JEDDAH: The latest victim of a serial rapist said reciting the Qur’an stopped her attacker from sexually assaulting her, Al-Madinah newspaper reported Monday.
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The 10-year-old told the newspaper that she was able to protect herself against his evil deeds by reciting five chapters of the holy book that she had learned by heart.
“Every time he came closer to me, I started reciting Qur’an and he would withdraw,” she said.
The girl, identified by her initials M.M.S., said the rapist would ask her to stop reciting the Qur’an but when she refused to listen to him, he hit her hard on the face. “Because of my recitations, he was reluctant to touch me,” she said.
The girl was abducted from a wedding hall in the city. “The man knocked on the door of the wedding hall. As the doorwoman went inside to help serve dinner, I opened the door for him, believing that he was one of the guests.”
She said he asked her to go with him because he wanted to give a gift for the bride. She believed him when she saw a bag in his hand.
“When I came out, he came closer to me and took me by the hand. He told me that the remaining gifts were in the car. He asked me to go with him to his car near the entrance of the hall,” she said.
“I protested but he forced me to follow him and told me not to make any noise. I thought the drama would end then and there but he forced me into the back seat of the car and asked to lie down and hide my face.”
She said he warned her not to make any noise as he drove through roads unfamiliar to her.
“However, I was able to see some landmarks such as a billiard hall and another wedding hall. When we reached his home, he asked me to go up with him because he was keeping the gifts in his apartment,” she said.
“He told me that we would take the gifts and go back to the wedding hall. The moment I entered the apartment, he pushed me inside and locked the door. Until then, I had no idea what he was going to do to me.”
She said he started preparing his shisha and said he knew her father very well, adding that he would call him and tell him not to worry. He said he would take her back once the wedding was over.
“He made a call on his mobile and told me that he was talking to my father. I asked him to let me talk to him but he switched off the phone and hit me on my face, telling me to keep quiet,” she said. “He then tried to attack me but I started reciting the Qur’an. He then retreated. This continued until sunrise.”
She said after sunrise the man started to watch television until about 8 a.m. He then told her that he would take her to a house where she would find her relatives.
“I got into his car. He asked me to keep my head low but I was able to see some buildings including Al-Sudais and Rap pharmacies that were close to his house. We did not go far,” she said.
“He dropped me near Al-Nahda clinic in Al-Muntazahat district and asked me to go inside a building where I would find my relatives. I went inside the building but I did not find anyone. I came back but he was gone.”
The girl said she saw a man carrying some bags home. She stopped him and asked him to help her. He did not have a mobile phone with him but he stopped a taxi and used the driver’s mobile to contact the girl’s father.
“He told my father that I was with him and they agreed to meet at a certain place. He took me to meet my father, who started to cry when he saw me.”
A schoolteacher has been arrested in connection with the series of rapes which took place over a three-year period since 2008.