Recent statistics by the Medina-based Koran Printing Complex show that since 1996 it has produced 124 million copies of the Holy Koran in various shapes, colours and sizes, the Islamic News Agency reported.

King Fahad presents Muslim communities around the world with 105 million copies of the Holy Koran, during the Hajj season every year as a gift from the King and custodian of the religion, the agency said.

In addition, it said the center produced up to 1996 translations of the Holy Koran in 21 languages.

They are Spanish, Albanian, English, Indonesian, Urdu, Oromic, Uigur, Pushtu, Barhawya, Bengali, Bosnian, Tamil, Turkish, Somali, Chinese, Persian, French, Kazak, Korean, Milibari, and Hausa.

The center produces 1.4 million audio cassettes annually. By the end of 1996 the whole of the Koran would have been recorded.

The koran has also been translated and recorded in the Oromic language, the largest nationality in Ethiopia. Similar recordings in other languages are being considered by the center, the agency said.

It added that the Prophet Mohammed Sunna and History Center is currently preparing a comprehensive encyclopedia on the Prophet's teachings, and the programming of the entire teaching in a computer disc to make it readily available to students and researchers.

The center's key role is to ensure that the correct, reliable and historically accurate teachings is disseminated in the Islamic World, and to reveal any fallacies or, attempts at distorting the teachings of the Prophet of Islam.