Madonna ‘studying the Qur’an’

US pop icon Madonna has revealed in an article published on Friday that she is now studying the Holy Qur’an.

In a piece for Harper’s Bazaar the 55-year-old said: “I have started making films, which is probably the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done. I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Qur’an. I think it is important to study all the holy books.”

Madonna also revealed that she was raped at knifepoint when she was a young struggling artist in New York.

The singer recalled being held up at gunpoint and having her seedy apartment burgled three times, saying she was very scared at times before she started making it as a singer and dancer.

Describing her arrival in the Big Apple from the Midwest, where she grew up, she wrote: “New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms.”