Iranian Qari, Qatari Memorizer Win Croatia Int’l Quran Contest
The competition’s panel of judges named Iranian Qari Hadi
Movahedamin as the top winner in the recitation category.
In memorization of the entire Quran, Qatar’s representative bagged the first prize.
Iran’s Reza Nezhad Tabrizi came fourth in this category.
54 Quran memorizers and reciters competed in the Quranic event, which was held internationally for the first time.
They were from countries like Kuwait, Iran, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Austria, Italy, France, Luxemburg, Kazakhstan, Britain, Norway and the Netherlands.
Iranian Quran master Ahmad Abolqassemi as well as Quranic figures from Croatia, Turkey, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Saudi Arabia, and France formed the panel of judges.
The contest marked the 100th year anniversary of the recognition of Islam in Croatia’s constitution as equal to other religions.
Croatia is an Eastern European country with a population of around five million.
It declared its independence during the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 and was internationally recognized in January 1992.
Roman Catholics represent 86 percent of Croatia’s population, followed by Orthodox Christians at five percent and Muslims at two percent.
On April 27, 1916, the Croatian-Slovenian province of the then Austro-Hungarian Empire held a parliamentary session in which Islam was recognized as equal to Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
