(Ahval News) - The head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs said on Friday that people should study Quran at every stage of their lives, Anadolu Agency reported .

“A place without Quran is a dark place. A heart that Quran does not enter is a dark heart. A house that Quran does not enter is a ramshackle building,” Turkey’s religious head, Ali Erbaş, said in the southeastern province of Mardin, following the morning prayers. 

Children who do not study Quran would be close to the Satan and satanic people, Anadolu quoted Erbaş as saying.

Erbaş also said that children should be taught Islamic prayers when they are seven-year-old.

“First we will start teaching them correct information on religion slowly. By doing that, we will help our children form their identities. When they are forming their identities, our children will become Muslim persons,” he said.