Younes Shahmoradi, a distinguished Iranian reciter of the Holy Quran, won first place in the recitation category at the second edition of the Quranic contest Etr al-kalam, the perfume of words in English, held in Saudi Arabia.

Following the Quran competition, he was awarded a prize of $800,000 (three million Saudi Arabian Riyals) on Friday.

Shahmoradi outperformed Abdulaziz al-Faqih from Saudi Arabia, who won second place and a prize of $500,000 (two million SAR). Moroccan contestants Zakariya al-Zirak and Abdullah Al-Dughri came in third and fourth.

In the call to prayer category, contestants from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Britain respectively won the top four titles.

The Quranic event was first organized by Saudi Arabia�s General Authority for Entertainment in 2019 to celebrate exceptional vocal talents in Quranic recitation and the call to prayer.

This year�s competition attracted 50,000 Muslim entrants from more than 100 countries at the qualifying stage. Of the 2,116 contestants who made the cut, 36 participants (18 in the Quran recitation category and 18 specializing in the call to prayer) advanced to the final stage.

The second edition of the Quranic contest was launched on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 23. The competition had a total prize pool of $3,000,000 (12 million SAR).

The televised Quranic competition is one of the most popular Ramadan programs in the kingdom and has a huge following in the Muslim world.

It should be noted that, following Iran�s President Raisi�s trip to the Chinese capital of Beijing in February, Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani started intensive talks with his Saudi counterpart on March 6 in Beijing for the purpose of finalizing a deal to resolve differences between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia.

Finally after seven years of deadlock, at the end of the negotiations, a three-way statement was signed to this effect by Shamkhani, the Iranian security chief, Musaid bin Muhammad al-Ayban, Saudi Arabia�s security chief, and Wang Yi, a member of the Chinese State Council.

 

By Tasnim