AN 11-year-old boy who suffers from a life-threatening blood disorder has become one of the youngest people in the country to learn the Koran off by heart.

Junaid Jubar, who lives with his family in Chiltern Avenue, High Wycombe, has memorised the contents of the Koran in just five years - devoting two hours a night to learning several pages of the Islamic holy text at a time.

The former Castlefield Primary School pupil and Chelsea fan can now recite this book off by heart and has achieved this on top of his everyday studies and amid fortnightly trips to north London's Whittington Hospital.

He said: "Learning the Koran was hard. But it feels amazing.

"I really enjoyed it. And now that I know it off by heart I want to study it now - properly. It's really inspiring.

"My parents really supported me along the way, especially my mum."

Junaid has a medical condition known as Thalassemia Major, which means he cannot produce his own haemoglobin - the protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen around the body.

He receives vital blood transfusions and crossmatches to treat his medical condition and five nights a week he also has to take tablets to reduce the amount of iron in his blood.

Junaid also gets very tired and agitated a week or so before each transfusion - which is why his parents Shamim and Abdul are so proud of his achievement.

Mrs Jubar, 33, said: "It's a miracle. Our friends and family are shocked that he has done it, especially with his condition.

"Even if he won the lottery it would mean nothing compared to this. It's as if he has special powers - like superman or spiderman."

Junaid's ability to absorb information has even earned him a place at the Royal Grammar School.

His teacher Hafiz Hamid-ud-Din Qureshi, says he has never known a person of Junaid's age learn the whole Koran by heart.

Mr Qureshi said: "To recite it is a big achievement. It's something to expect us just to read it but to be able to recite it is a powerful thing. It's a marking of our religion."

To celebrate Junaid's achievement a special ceremony is being held on the evening of September 10 at the Castlefield mosque in Rutland Avenue when guest Pir Habib-Ul-Rehman of Niyaran Sharif is flying over from Pakistan.