Audience favourite surprised by win
Winner of the main competition in the Quran Awards to be announced today
S h a f a at S h a b a n da r i
Audience favourite Abdul Rahman Toqan from Italy won the Best Voice award in the 16th Dubai International Holy Quran Awards, defeating nine other contestants in a rousing contest.
The special segment of the Quran Awards, the contestants for which were selected by the voice judges, went down to the wire at the Dubai Chambers as 10 young students of the Quran wowed the packed audience with highquality performances.
In a simple yet soulful performance, 20-year-old Toqan edged out others who had given priority to style over substance.
Toqan, who finished memorising the Holy Quran just five months ago, admitted he didn’t even imagine competing in such a prestigious event until recently, let alone winning a prize.
“I could not even dream about participating until last year as I had not even completed Hifz [memorising the Holy Quran]. I thank Allah for blessing me with a good voice and honouring me, I’m really happy,” said Toqan, a student at the Islamic College of France.
“I want to pursue my career as a Qari [reciter] and follow in the footsteps of my favourite Qari Shaikh Mohammad Seddiq Al Minshawi of Egypt. I thank Allah for blessing me and choosing me for his cause and I will continue my pursuit of Quranic knowledge,” added Toqan, who is being trained in all seven styles of Quran recitation.
Toqan won a cash prize of Dh5,000 for topping the best voice competition but readily admitted that he didn’t think he stood a chance to repeat the result in the main segment.
The other four places in the best voice segment went to Omar Abdullah from Tanzania (2nd), Saleh Khalid Jasem from Kuwait (3rd), Libyan Hamza Lasmar (4th) and Mohammad Bu Shaiba from Belgium (5th).
Meanwhile, the main Quran contests came to an end with two more strong performances from Moroccan Hamza Lazar and Mohammad Hamza Vohra of the United States.
Though the official results won’t be out until this evening, a 19-year-old Bangladeshi who performed on Day One is touted by many as the favourite to win top honours, followed closely by Yemeni Abdul Rahman Ahmad Mohammad.
The results of the competition will be announced
could not even dream about participating until last year as I had not even completed Hifz, I thank Allah for blessing me with a good voice and honouring me, I’m really happy.” A b d u l R a h ma n To q a n | Italian contestant
on Wednesday in a glittering ceremony expected to be attended by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who is also the chief patron of the annual event.
The winner of the competition gets a cash prize of Dh250,000. The first runner-up goes home with Dh200,000 and the thirdplace winner gets Dh150,000. The other seven in the top 10 get cash prizes ranging between Dh65,000 to Dh35,000.
Yousuf Estes, who was earlier chosen as the Islamic Personality of the Year 2012, will also be honoured at today’s function.