A six-year-old girl enchanted the audience with a Qur’an recitation during a contest held in Riyadh over the weekend.

Abeer Nawab, a grade three student at the Pakistan International School (English section), mesmerized the audience with her unique voice.

The annual “Quirath” (Qur’an recitation) contest was organized by the Pakistan Writers Club (PWC) based in Riyadh.

This year’s competition also marked a historic achievement for the PWC, where eight young girls were allowed to participate under the direct supervision of the recently established ladies’ chapter.

Abeer was the youngest among the 26 contestants. Participants were given three minutes each and were graded on articulation, pronunciation and presentation.

The contestants were judged by Qari Mohammad Saeed, Qari Ashfaq Hussein, Gaylanee and Mohammad Zakir.

The winners from the boys’ side included Abdul Moez Azhar, who came first, Waleed Azhar Abbas (second) and Shoaib Abu Baker (third).

The winners from the girls’ side were Fatima Alzahraa Humayyun (first), Nabah Khalid (second) and Abeer Nawab (third).

The PWC has organized the contest every year during Ramadan since 1996 for children under the age of 15.

The evening program began with Qur’anic recitation made by Mohammad Saeed, followed by a poetry recitation in honor of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which was read out by Qari Ashfaq Hussein.

The winners were announced jointly by Ashiq Hussein and Wardah Qureshi, convener of the ladies’ chapter.

The event concluded with words of appreciation from the chief guest, Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi, who praised the young participants, parents and teachers, for putting in time and effort to strive for excellence.

Other notable speakers included Intezam ul Haq Thanwi and Parween Shamshad Siddique, as well as Saim Mughal, a former contestant and now an engineering student.

Qureshi thanked the parents of the female participants for their untiring efforts in ensuring their daughters were ready for the competition.

PWC president Faiz Al-Najdi offered words of gratitude to the participants and their parents, as well as to the audience and event sponsors. He also thanked members of the PWC and its ladies chapter for working so hard to make the event a success.

Ashiq Hussain, Aymen Zaheer, Rauf Moghal, Zubair Bhatti and Sanobar Sani were mentioned by name during his vote of thanks. He also thanked Shamahsd Siddiqui, Bashir Ahmed Choudhry, Fayaz Ali Khan, Rana Khalid, Waseem, Younus, Faisal Alvi and Javed Iqbal for sponsoring the event.

Participants were handed gift packs from event sponsors and the winners were honored with shields and prizes.