Another [of their good features] is their eagerness to memorize the great Qur'an. They place fetters on their children if there appears on their part a failure to memorize it and they are not undone until they memorize it.

I went into the house of the Qadi (Islamic Judge) on the day of the festival and his children were fettered so I said to him: “Aren’t you going to let them go?” He replied: “I shall not do so until they’ve got the Qur'an by heart!” “One day I passed by a youth of theirs, of good appearance and dressed in fine clothes, with a heavy fetter on his leg. I said to those who were with me: “What has this boy done? Has he killed somebody?” The lad understood what I had said and laughed, and they said to me: “ He’s only been fettered so that he’ll learn the Qur'an!”