New Categories to Be Added to ‘Zayen al-Aswat’ Quran Contest
The competition’s first edition was held in the holy city of Qom on October 1-2, 2025.
More than 1,600 applicants from all 31 provinces had registered, with 94 reaching the final stage. Participants, aged 14 to 24, competed in different forms of recitation under the supervision of international judges.
The competition, held under the slogan “Quran, the Book of the Faithful,” was organized by the Al al-Bayt Institute’s Quranic Affairs Center with support from cultural and Quranic organizations. All recitations were recorded and will be published through the institute’s media platforms.
In an interview with IQNA, Mohammad Badpa, the head of the contest’s judging committee, announced future plans for the development of this Quranic event.
He noted that new categories like Quran memorization, Quranic concepts, and Nahj al-Balagha will be added to the competition in the future editions.
He said the contest was the result of about a year of continuous planning. The Al al-Bayt Institute decided to hold this event with the aim of creating a new field for the emergence of Quranic talents and redefining the atmosphere of Quranic competition among teenagers and young people, Badpa stated.
“From the very beginning, we emphasized that ‘Zayen al-Aswat’ should not be just a competition, but rather a school for growth and burgeoning. For this reason, in addition to the technical aspect, we also paid special attention to the educational, training, and cultural dimensions.”
He said the Al al-Bayt Institute has always been a pioneer in spreading the culture of the Quran and the Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS), and in designing these competitions, “we tried to create a healthy and ethical competitive atmosphere so that participants can experience the spirit of empathy and friendship while competing.”
He added that after being invited to serve on the technical committee, “one of our first actions was to develop regulations for judging and running the competition to maintain transparency, fairness, and consistency in the process. Alongside the two well-known and popular disciplines of Tahqiq recitation and imitative recitation, we decided to create a new space for the creativity of the reciters.
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“Accordingly, inspired by a successful experience in one of the Quranic institutions, a new discipline entitled ‘Do khani’ or ‘Munafisah’ (taking turns to recite the verses) was designed. In this category, two reciters recite verses of the Quran in a sequential and alternating manner. One recites a section and the other continues. This style creates passion, dynamism, and interaction, and develops skills such as vocal harmony, tonal harmony, creativity in recitation design, and strengthening the collective spirit in young reciters.”
Badpa went on to say that this category was met with a remarkable reception from the participants, and ultimately, the top eight groups advanced to the final stage. “The audience’s feedback was also very positive. Many considered this category an effective step towards enhancing the listening appeal of Quranic competitions.”
He also said that in order to maintain soundness and accuracy in the evaluations, the competition as held in three stages: preliminary, semi-final, and final. “In the preliminary stage, instead of an official jury, we used a group of experts in the fields of voice, tone, and Tajweed to conduct the initial screening with a scientific and fair approach.
“In the semi-final stage, four official judges were selected for each category to judge the submitted works offline and professionally. After a multi-stage review, 42 reciters in the imitative recitation category, 36 reciters in the Tahqiq recitation category (adults), and eight groups in the Munafisah category advanced to the final stage.”
Asked about the quality of the participants, Badpa said it far exceeded expectations. “Many of these dear ones were finalists in prestigious national competitions such as the National Quran Competition (which is annually held) by the Awqaf Organization. This raised the level of competition and led to national-level recitations.”
Highlighting the special attention paid to education, he said, “We believe that competition is meaningless without education. The goal of competition is growth and advancement, not just ranking. For this reason, in addition to organizing the competition, we have prepared numerous educational programs.
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“In the future, the quantitative and qualitative development of the competition is on the agenda. God willing, in the next editions, the categories of memorizing the Holy Quran, concepts of the Holy Quran, and Nahj al-Balagha will be added to the series.
“In addition, we intend to make greater use of the capacity of cyberspace so that participants from different parts of the country can attend this event without geographical restrictions. Plans are also being made to form a bank of Quranic talents in the country so that the best individuals can be used in future educational, media, and promotional projects.
“We hope that with the continuation of this path and the support of the country’s Quranic institutions, ‘Zayen al-Aswat’ will be presented as a successful model at the national and even international levels. Our goal is for teenagers and young people to live with the Quran, not just recite it.”
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