Sheikh Abu-Khaled, a mosque imam in Damascus countryside, pledged to pay the cost of the lesser pilgrimage for his students who boycott the Turkish 'Nour' and 'Sanawat al-Dayaa' TV series.

Omar, one of the students, said the sheikh asked the students who said they don’t watch the two series to swear on the Quran to prove truthfulness, according to the UAE Al-Bayan newspaper.

Omar only smiled while he was narrating the story, saying some of the students expressed enthusiasm about the idea. But he said: "I think all the students and maybe the sheikh himself watched the two TV series."

Some 3-4 million Saudis are watching 'Nour' every night according to statistics by mbc channel, which screens the two series. The channel broadcast the series four months ago.

Strikingly, the series did not succeed when it was screened by Turkish television in 2005, but it has largely succeeded in Saudi Arabia