Top 10 advance as Awwal Al-Awael concludes first stage in Doha

Detailed summary

Doha, Qatar: Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs H E Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al Ghanim, yesterday witnessed the conclusion of the first stage...

Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs H E Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al Ghanim with other officials during the event.

Doha, Qatar: Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs H E Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al Ghanim, yesterday witnessed the conclusion of the first stage of the third edition of the international Quran competition ‘Awwal Al-Awael’, bringing together 42 distinguished Quran memorisers from 19 countries in a contest to identify the world’s top reciter.

The six-day in-person competition, held at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab Mosque, brought together winners of leading international Quran competitions, with the best 10 participants set to qualify for the final stage.

The minister followed part of the sixth and final day’s assessments on November 14, which were conducted before an international judging panel comprising prominent scholars specialising in Quranic readings and recitation rules.

The competition is the international branch of the Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani Holy Quran Competition and aims to bring together outstanding winners of international Quran contests to compete for the title of ‘First Among the Best’.

The final two days of the first stage saw nine participants from Qatar, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana and Syria demonstrate their Quran memorisation, recitation and knowledge.

On Friday, November 13, four contestants took part in the assessments: Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Hamri of Qatar, Jamaleddine Abdulsalam Al Zuwair and Abdulhamid Abdullah Al Qaryou of Libya, and Hassan Othman Abdelnabi Ibrahim of Egypt.

The final day on Saturday featured five participants: Abdelfattah Abdelhamid Abu Zahra and Ahmed Yousry Mohamed of Egypt, Mohamed Yassine Tabbakh of Algeria, Abdessamad Adam of Ghana, and Hassan Mahmoud Bakour of Syria.

Their backgrounds reflected the diverse paths through which Quran memorisers have developed their expertise, ranging from early childhood memorisation and advanced Quranic readings to academic qualifications, teaching…

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