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A Scots Muslim mum has found the word "Allah" inside a potato she was peeling.

Mariam Nadeem told the Record: "It's like a special blessing has been sent to us."

Mum-of-two Mariam, 30, of Glenrothes, Fife, discovered the Arabic writing inside the spud as she peeled a batch of potatoes to make samosas.

She said: "This particular potato seemed a little bit mouldy so I cut a chunk off to see if the rest was OK.

"Then I noticed the brown writing in Arabic against the yellow of the potato.

"I couldn't believe it when I spelled out 'Allah'."

Mariam, who has sons aged five and two, showed the potato to her shopkeeper husband Nadeem Aslam.

"He agreed that the writing looked like 'Allah'," she said. "I showed it to our neighbours and they too were surprised."

Nadeem then took the potato to her local mosque.

She said: "Our imam suggested we could try to dry it and put it on show.

"But I don't want to dry it in case it turns brown so I think we will freeze it or bury it in the garden instead.

"I was very proud when I found it. I think I am very lucky.

"I have heard about messages from Allah on a leaf or an animal, but it is very rare."

Hundreds of Muslims flocked to a small terraced house in West Yorkshire in 1999 to see a tomato with a "message from Allah" inside.

Housewife Shabana Hussain, 27, was making a meal for her family when she cut the tomato in half and found "Bismillah" - or Allah - written in Arabic.

Writing on the other half of the vegetable said "la illaha illala" - or "there is no God but Allah".

Shabana said: "I was shocked."