On July 24, 2024, the grand opening and competitive part of the BRICS Holy Quran Award took place in Kazan. This unique international event is being held for the first time. The event was organized by the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, the Council of Muftis of Russia and the Mohammed bin Zayed University of Humanities (UAE) with the support of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The competition, held in the category “Tilyava” (skillful reading of sacred texts), was attended by the strongest readers of the Quran from 20 countries, in particular from the BRICS countries, the Arab-Muslim world, Africa and the CIS. Among the honored guests of the event were ministers, muftis, prominent scientists from Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Brazil, Bahrain, China, India, Egypt, CIS countries and other countries, as well as leaders of large international Muslim organizations.
The prestigious jury was chaired by the head of the Academy of the Holy Quran in Sharjah, Dr. Khalifa Mesbah at-Tuneiji. Honorary members of the jury also included: the chief reader of the Holy Quran of the Republic of Bangladesh, Ahmad Bin Yusuf; Member of the Supreme Council of the Holy Quran of the Republic of Iran Gholamreza Shahmiwe Esfahani ; Imam- khatib of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan Bulat Mubarakov; Member of the Higher Committee for the Service of the Qur'an at the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs of Egypt Maher Mohamed Abdelnabi Faramaoui.
The counting commission was headed by the Secretary General of the World Association of Qur'anic Awards and Competitions (Yemen) Sadeq Mohammed Abdullah Ali. The commission also included Mohammed Abdulhamid Mohammed Seif Haydar (Yemen) and Director of the Quranic Center Zeid ibn Sabit in the Saratov (Russia) Ilyas Ilyasov.
The ceremonial opening of the Award began with the reading of ayats from the Quran. Maher Mohamed Abdelnabi Faramaoui acted as speaker. Afterwards, the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, moderator of the plenary session, Mufti Rushan Abbyasov, came on stage of the event. The first part of the mufti's speech was delivered in Arabic. In the name of the Almighty, Rushan Hazrat blessed the organizing committee and participants of the event, emphasizing the importance of holding the competition for Russia and the whole world.
“The Holy Quran Award is an event that Russian Muslims look forward to. In addition, this is an opportunity to talk about the true values of Islam and the teachings of its holy book, based on tolerance and coexistence in the world”, - noted Rushan Abbyasov. The Mufti conveyed his best wishes to all participants in the competition on behalf of the Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Council of Muftis of Russia, Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin.
“All participants have already become winners, following the path of Allah Almighty”, - concluded Rushan Hazrat, moving on to the second part of his greeting. In his speech in Russian, the Mufti expressed gratitude and appreciation to the Rais of Tatarstan and the Chairman of the GSV “Russia - Islamic World” Rustam Minnikhanov, as well as the entire government of the republic for supporting this event.
“The read ayats of the Holy Quran will be filled with our prayers for the oppressed brothers both in Palestine and in other parts of the world. We pray to Allah Almighty to end wars and conflicts on earth in the name of peace and harmony. I am glad to welcome you all, and by the will of the All-Merciful Allah, enjoy the wonderful reading of the Holy Quran from our participants”, - wished Rushan Abbyasov at the end of his speech.
The next person to greet the Award participants was the Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mufti of the Republic Kamil Samigullin, also starting his speech in Arabic.
“I welcome all participants of the Holy Quran Award to the country where, for the first time in the history of Islam, a printed edition of the holy book was published”, - Kamil hazrat emphasized. In his welcoming speech in Arabic, the Mufti of Tatarstan paid attention to the rich history of Muslim printing in Russia and the activities of internationally recognized Tatar Muslim theologians and Quran scholars, in particular Musa Jarullah Bigiev.
“Kazan is the worthiest place for holding such events in Russia, since we already have the first hafiz of the Quran (experts of the sacred text by heart - editor's note) who know all ten qiraats (methods of reading the Quran - editor's note)”, - said the Mufti of Tatarstan in his speech in Russian.
Kamil Samigullin spoke about the restoration of the calligraphy school at the Russian Islamic University, where today there is a separate department of Arabic calligraphy. The Mufti of Tatarstan also told the event participants about the progress of local calligraphers’ work on the handwritten edition of the Holy Quran. According to him, the project is at the completion stage: five juz remain to be written (a juz is one of 30 approximately equal parts of the Quran - editor's note). The work of calligraphers is carried out with the participation of an international commission in accordance with the canonical writing standard “Ar- Rasm Al-Usmani”.
At the end of the speech, Kamil Samigullin expressed the hope that the time spent by the organizers and participants during the days of the event would be pleasant, and promised all possible assistance to this on behalf of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan. After the welcoming words of the Mufti of Tatarstan, the competitive part of the Award began.
The first speaker was the representative of Syria Mohammad Saad Eid. He was followed by readers from the Republic of South Africa, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic: Muhammed Aziz, Kainar Bazarkan and Abdimalik Tashmatov respectively. The last contestant to speak before the prayer break was the representative of the Russian Federation - Yasir Khakimzhon Dodarbekov.
Amr Najib Mohammed Abdullah a reader from Yemen, was the first to take the stage after break to read sacred texts. Next came representatives of the following states: Egypt – Mohamed Abdelkarim Kamel Attia Mohamed; Ethiopia – Abdulwahab Mustefa Koroso; Iraq – Mohammed Nayyef Flayyih; UAE – Abdallah Humaid Abdallah Ahmed Alblooshi; Kuwait – Mohammad Ahmad Abdullah Gulum Jamal; India – Wasim Mohibullah Shaikh. The performances of the readers before the next break for prayer were completed by a contestant from Iran - Hosseininezhad Montazeri Omid.
The final part of the Award began with a reading by the representative of Brazil, Anas Hussin, he was followed by Tanzanian participant Juma Seif Magawa. Reader Mustafokul Abdurahmonov spoke from the Republic of Uzbekistan at the Holy Quran Award. In the group of participants whose recitations completed the competitive part of the Award, the order was as follows: Jinming Ma from the People's Republic of China, Waleed Mousay Mansour Alfakhri from Libya and Mohamed Samir Mohamed Magahed from the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The ceremonial part of the opening of the Award ended with the reading of the Quran from jury member Ahmad Bin Yusuf. Head of the Judicial Commission, Dr. Khalifa Mesbah At-Tuneiji summed up the event.
“Dear brothers, organizers of the Holy Quran Award, there is no doubt that you have achieved success. You were the first to advocate holding an international competition for reading the Quran. Today you skillfully and effectively organized this competition. We witnessed this competition, and the whole world could hear fragrant readings from the lips of pious people”, - noted the head of the Judicial Commission, ending his speech with a prayer to the Almighty.
The opening and competitive part of the BRICS Holy Quran Award took place at the Korston Hotel. Here, on July 26, in the concert hall will take place closing ceremony of the Award with the participation of high-ranking guests of honor.