Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Turki Bin Muqrin won the 20th Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) on Saturday.
This is the second year in a row a Saudi contestant has won the coveted prize. Last year, Saudi Arabia’s Faisal Al Harithi won the Dh250,000 award.
The year the competition was very closely fought with three positions tied among the the top ten.
American Aden Shahzad and Dagestan’s Bilal Abdul Khaliqov jointly held the second prize for Dh200,000. Incidentally, an American Hamzah Al Habashy also won the second prize last year.
Shahzad, 14, who has won more than 23 international and local completions so far was a favourite for the top three positions.
The fourth position was a tie between Libya’s Abdul Rahman Al Juhany and Bangladeshi, Abullah Al Mamun.
Niger’s Ebrahim Ismail and Mourianian Akah Abitat took sixth and seventh positions respectively.
Toufiq Abdali from Algeria, Bahraini Jassim Khalifa Ebrahim and Jordan’s Malek Adnan Al Subhi tied for the eighth position.
The competition, which lasted 10 days, came to an end last week, with last of the 82 participants performing on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the segment for beautiful recitation was held, which was won by Bahraini Jassim Khalifa Ebrahim.
The winners were honoured at a glittering programme at Cultural and Scientific Association building in Al Mamzar.
The ceremony also saw the honouring of the 20th Islamic Personality of the Year Award to renowned Emirati Islamic scholar Shaikh Mohammad Ali Sultan Al Ulama.
A major segment of the annual awards, the ‘Islamic Personality of the Year’ honour has been won by several prominent personalities from around the world including Shaikh Sudais, the Grand Imam of Masjid Al Haram in Makkah; American Islamic preacher Yousuf Estes and the UAE’s Mother of the Nation Her Higheness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, who was honoured last year.
Shaikh Mohammad Ali, 96, who inherited the title of Sultan Al Ulama from his father, is the author of more than 70 Islamic titles.
His major works include a Quranic exegesis titled Safwat Al Erfan, a biography of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), Ghayat Al Ma’mul, and several others works on Islamic sciences.
Shaikh Mohammad Ali, expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the UAE for this award and for placing him on the long list of prominent Islamic personalities.
