DUBAI, 14 October 2006 — Contestants from Africa won most of the first places at the 10th Dubai International Holy Qur’an Awards (DIHQA).
Considered to be the world’s leading Qur’an recitation contest, the awards’ closing ceremony was held Thursday night at the Dubai International Convention Center.
Sheikh Mohammad ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, presented the awards to the winners of the competition at the glittering ceremony.
Also at the ceremony the Islamic Personality of the Year award was handed out to Egyptian scholar Zaghloul Mohammad Al-Najjar, an expert on miracles in the Qur’an.
Abdul Hamid Abdul Omer of Libya won the first place followed by Ahmed Shuwihan of Morocco. Abdul Omer was awarded 250,000 dirhams while Shuwihan came in the second place winning 150,000 dirhams.
The competition, which has a total award pool of 8 million dirhams, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The third, fourth and fifth places were taken by Fahim Abdullah Mohammed Nour (Bangladesh), Mohammed Luwan (Nigeria) and Abdul Rahman ibn Mohammed ibn Abdul Majeed (Saudi Arabia) respectively. Nour won 100,000 dirhams, Luwan 65,000 dirhams and Abdul Rahman bagged 60,000 dirhams.
Mohammed Niyazi Mohammed Abdullah from Egypt won fifth place while Al-Mustafa Salimo ibn Abou from Mauritania was ranked seventh. Muaz Ahmed Al-Hatti from Somalia and Waleed Ahmed Al Marzouqie from the UAE shared the eighth position. Abdul Rahman Bushara from Cameroon took the 10th position.
Ebrahim Mohammad Bu Melha, chairman of DIHQA’s organizing committee, said this year’s award function was a great success with the number of participants increasing compared to the previous years. “This award has become a milestone in the history of the UAE,” he said.
Arab News spoke to the Saudi contestant Abdul Rahman who won the fifth position. The 19-year-old from Madinah is a student at the Islamic University. He comes from a family of scholars. His father teaches at the Islamic University while his grandfather is also a noted scholar.
Abdul Rahman said that he began memorizing the Qur’an at the age of seven. “My grandfather got a sheikh to come our house to teach me and my siblings the holy book. The sheikh was very tough and we studied for very long hours. As a result of all the hard work I got this leading position in this prestigious event,” he said.
Asked what he will do with the prize money, Abdul Rahman said he would buy a plot of land. The young man said that Allah blesses those who memorize the Holy Qur’an. “I never had to study hard for my exams, but would still get great grades. That is because the training I got through studying the Qur’an gave me exceptional memory.”
Abdul Rahman is studying Islamic jurisprudence and wants to become a great scholar. For him the future lies in serving the Holy Qur’an and bringing its message to the masses.