Eighty contestants from all over the world will tonight start competing for honours at the Dubai International Holy Quran Award.
The winner will take the prize money of Dh250,000, followed by Dh150,000 for the second place and Dh100,000 for third place.
General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, the award's founder-patron, will present the awards at a ceremony to be held at the Dubai Convention Centre.
The contest takes place every night after the Taraweeh prayers from 9pm to 1 am. Some of the contestants spoke with Gulf News and shared their experience and thoughts about the competition.
Kenyan contestant Abdurahman Hassan Mohammed, 11, started memorising the Quran when he was eight years old. He learned from his teacher Ruwais Ahmed, who expects that Abdurahman will achieve an advanced place. Kenya has seven million Muslims in a population of 30 million.
Abdurahman who cannot speak, read or write Arabic, memorised the entire Quran in three years. He recites four chapters of the Quran every day in three periods - after dawn prayers up to 11am, from 2pm to 4pm and from 6.30pm to 8pm.
He wants to be a Muslim scholar when he grows up.
Ahmed Nawaf Alassi Al Mejlad, 19, memorised Quran when he was 13 years old.
Visually-impaired, Al Mejlad memorised by the help of recordings of a number of prominent Quran reciters. Later, he was enrolled in a mosque in Kuwait to improve his reading.
"I can imitate the voices of Al Huzaifi, Abdul Basit and Al Hussary, leading Quran reciters," he says with pride.
Abdihakim Daher Sharif is of Somali origin. But because he is a resident of Australia, he is representing a Muslim community of two million people.
He came to know about the award only last year. He said he would like to represent his country, Somalia. Abdihakim understands Arabic but he has not fully comprehended the meaning of the verses.
Ibtisam Ur Rehman, 15, from Pakistan started memorising the Holy Quran when he was seven and completed it when he was nine.
He was encouraged by his father and grandfather who also know by heart the Holy Quran.
Saleh Seif Said, 13, from Tanzania recites the Holy Quran in a haunting voice. He started memorising the the Holy Book when he was ten.
"My country has won a position between 10th and 20th, but I am prepared to achieve a better position," he says. Saleh wants to be a Muslim scholar when he grows up.
Hamoud Ould Mohamdy, 19, from Mauritania said he completed memorising the Holy Quran when he was nine. He learned in Makkah at the Muslim World League. He represents around two-and-a-half million Muslims in Germany.
"If I won the Award, I would support the Quran Science School in Germany," he says.
Entrants are united by the Holy Book. They help each other in reviewing the memorisation and wish each other well.
Coming from different nationalities, races and colours these contestant have one thing in common - and that is the bond of Islam.
Gulf News
