On July 26, 2024, in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, the city of Kazan, took place the closing ceremony of the BRICS Holy Quran Award with the participation of the Chairman of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Council of Muftis of Russia, Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, and high-ranking honored guests. The audience of the ceremony was presented with a unique theatrical performance telling about the importance of preserving true spiritual and moral values and the deep meanings of the Holy Quran. The central place in the performance was occupied by the readers of the Holy Quran - participants of the Award.
“The most pleasant thing will probably happen now. This is the awards ceremony to our winners. For the first time in history, a competition is being held for readers of the Quran, who came to us from the BRICS member countries. But readers from other countries and regions also came to us, and there were not eleven, but twenty participants”, - Ravil Gainutdin told media representatives just a few minutes before the ceremony began. Soon, from the stage of the gala event, Mufti Sheikh greeted the audience and participants of the Award. Ravil Gainutdin paid special attention to the participation of the rector of the Mohammad bin Zayed Humanities University (UAE), Dr. Khalifa Mubarak Az-Zahiri.
“Of course, this event is a reflection of the strong, friendly relations that bind our countries: the Russian Federation and the United Arab Emirates”, - Khalifa Mubarak Az-Zahiri said from the stage in his address to all participants and spectators of the ceremony. – The meanings inherent in this event deserve the highest appreciation and great attention. It is through reading the ayats of the Quran that a person reveals the rich potential of spiritual and moral values”.
The guest of honor also noted the “amazing” organization of the event and spoke about how important the UAE is to the spread of Quranic culture. It should be noted that each spectator of the ceremony was presented with Quranic mushafs prepared by Mohammad bin Zayed University for Humanities.
The theatrical performance told the story of the rebirth of a young man - being subject to stereotypical ideas about Islam, the character tries to burn the mushaf of the Holy Quran. However, a meeting with Professor Ulema, who showed the ignorant guy all the beauty of the Muslim religion, completely changes the hero’s worldview. At the end of the performance, he became a prudent defender of Islam by himself. The location of the story was constantly changing, and during the miraculous movements of the heroes, the reciters of the Quran - participants in the last Award - came on stage one by one and read ayats from the holy book. The author of the idea for a unique performance was the head of the Department of Culture of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, Renat Abyanov, and the director was Ramil Sibgatullin.
The ceremony ended with the awarding of the Holy Quran Award to the participants. The members of the honorary jury of the competition, as well as the counting commission, did not go unnoticed. Each of them was invited to the stage of the gala event to present memorable gifts to grateful applause from the audience. It is important to note that in a separate order, the Minister of Awqaf of Egypt, Dr. Osama al-Azhari, was awarded the Al-Fakhr Order of Honor.
The opinion of the authoritative panel of judges of the Holy Quran Award distributed the prizes as follows. Yemeni reader Amr Najib Mohammed Abdullah finished fourth. Third place went to a reader from Iran - Hosseininejad Montazeri Omid.
The zeal of blind reader from Egypt Mohamed Abdelkarim Kamil Attiya Mohamed deserves admiration. The contestant took second place. He began reading the Quran when he was five years old and within a year he had memorized the holy book, which gave the young man great opportunities and victories in various local reading competitions. Currently Mohamed Abdelkarim teaches at Al-Azhar University and serves as an imam khatib at the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf.
The first place was taken by a reader from the Kingdom of Bahrain Mohamed Samir Mohamed Magahed. The winner admitted that the decision of the respected judges is a great reward as for himself, so for his family and the country, and noted the high level of other participants in the Award. Mohamed Samir began studying the holy book when he was six years old, and memorized it at eighteen. He took part in many international competitions, including the Moscow International Quran Reciting Competition.
A unique international event - the BRICS Holy Quran Award - was organized by the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, the Council of Muftis of Russia and the University of Humanities named after Mohammad bin Zayed (UAE) with the support of the Republic of Tatarstan.