Albanian family holds tight to tiny Quran

Printed most likely towards the end of the 19th Century on nearly 900 pages, a miniature Quran, considered one of the smallest in the world, has been preciously kept by an Albanian family in Tirana for several generations. Photo: AFP

The ritual is always the same. Mario Prushi carefully washes his hands and face before kissing and pressing one of the world's smallest Qurans to his forehead.

For generations, the postage stamp-sized book has been passed down in his family - surviving wars and one of the world's most fanatical "godless regimes".