33 Countries Attending 8th Al-Kawthar Int’l Quran Contest
Titled "Inna lil-muttaqina Mafaza" (Indeed, for the righteous is attainment- Holy Quran, 78:31), the phone-in Quran competition is annually organized by the Al-Kawthar TV network during the holy month.
This year, 500 Qaris from 33 countries have applied to take part in the contest, Seyed Ebrahim Hosseini-Bakhsh, public relations officer of the Al-Kawthar TV said.
From Egypt alone, 44 Qaris have applied, all of whom skilled Quran reciters, he added.
Hossieni-Baksh noted that Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt have the highest number of applicants for this year’s edition.
According to the official, Quran experts from Iran, as well as other countries like Iraq, Egypt, Australia, Canada, US, and the Netherlands, judge the performance of the contenders.
The Quran experts include Sheikh Ahmed Issa Hassan al-Misarawi and Taha Abdul Wahab from Egypt, Abdol Rasul Abayi, Mehdi Daqaqeleh, Seyed Mehdi Seif, Mutaz Aghayi, and Seyed Abbas Anjam from Iran, Aref al-Assadri from Syria, Meitham al-Rikabi and Yahya al-Sahaf from Iraq, and Adel Khalil from Lebanon.
Hosseini-Baksh noted that the competition will start every night from 00:30 a.m. Iran time (20:00 GMT) and will last for 90 minutes.
It will last for 24 nights and the five top contenders will compete in the final round on the last night, he stated.
He went on to say that winners of the 1st to 5th titles will receive cash prizes of $5000 to $1000.
Last year, Qaris from Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Denmark made it to the final round.
