Medicos set the bar high at Quran awards
Third-year student and a doctor among top performers on day one of 22nd Holy Quran Awards
Amedical student and a doctor set the bar high on day one of the 22nd Dubai International Holy Quran Awards (DIHQA).
Taking the stage on Wednesday night, Ugandan Sulaiman Ali, a third-year medical student, gave the best performance of the first night of the annual competition.
Coming from a family of 10 siblings who have all memorised the Quran, Ali follows his elder brother to DIHQA, who participated in the competition five years back.
“I am following in the footsteps of my elder brother in coming here and I am proud to be part of this amazing competition. Thanks to Allah, I am very happy with my performance but I know this is a tough competition and there are many great performers coming up over the next 10 days, so I am keeping hopes in check,” said Ali.
“In Uganda, there are many Quran schools for boys and we see many boys completing the task of memorising the entire Quran, but there are not many schools for girls and my aim is to build a Quran school for girls,” said Ali, whose two sisters have also completed memorising the Quran.
Jordanian Nasir Nihad Dheb, a doctor, also presented a soulful rendition of Quranic verses. This is the second international Quran competition for Dr Dheb, who was runner-up at a global competition in Algeria last year.
“This has been a great experience so far. It feels amazing to perform on such a big stage in Dubai as this is one of the most prestigious Quran competitions in the world and I am glad that I have done well,” said Dheb.
Seven participants
The first session of the contest saw seven participants performing in the packed auditorium of the Dubai Chamber building, including an engineer from Tanzania.
Faris Saeed Hammadi, a Tanzanian of Omani descent, is also a multiple award winner, who finished memorising the Quran within eight months at the age of 10.
Spreading its reach further every passing year, the competition this year will have representation from 104 countries.