According to the panel of judges, Iran’s Mohammad Zahedi finished first in the
category of Quran recitation and Quranic concepts.
Ali Hassan Abdul Aa’la from Iraq and Mohammad Reza Nouri from Afghanistan came
second and third.
In the category of memorization of the entire Quran and Quranic concepts, Iran’s
representative Mahmoud Norouzi was the top winner.
The runner-up was Ahmed Yasri Mohamed from Egypt and the third rank prize went
to Mohamed Tijani from Ghana.
There was another category, namely Quranic oration, in which Syrian contender
Hassan Muhammad Walid Barakat from Syria bagged the first prize.
Majed Washli from Yemen and Ahmad Qarabavi from Iran came second and third.
The closing ceremony was attended by a number of senior religious scholars and
officials, including grand source of emulation Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, director
of Iran’s Islamic seminaries, Ayatollah Ali Reza Aarafi, and head of Iran’s
Awqaf and Charity Affairs Organization, Hojat-ol-Islam Ali Mohammadi.
The competition for seminary students was part of the 35th International Quran
Competition of the Islamic Republic of Iran that got underway on Thursday.
The seminary students section of the contest was held at the Imam Kadhim (AS)
Islamic Seminary in the holy city of Qom, 150km south of Tehran.
Source: IQNA