Al-Kawthar TV’s Int’l Quran Contest Gets Underway

According to the TV channel’s public relations office, three contenders showcased their Quran recitation talents on the first night of the contest.

They were Mehdi Foroughi from Iran, Morteza Rahmani from Afghanistan and Ahmed al-Asadi from Sweden.

On the second night, Qaris from Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan took part in the competition.

Masters Seyed Mehdi Seyf from Iran, Haidar al-Kazemi from Iraq, Rizwan Darwish from Syria and Abdolkabir Heidari from Afghanistan are the members of the panel of judges.

The phone-in Quran competition titled “Inna lil-Muttaqina Mafaza” (Indeed, for the righteous is attainment- Holy Quran, 78:31) begins on the first night of Ramadan every year.

This year’s competition is expected to be attended by some 250 Qaris from different countries.

According to Seyed Abbas Razavi, an official with the TV channel, 96 contenders will be selected to compete in the semifinal round, five of whom will make it to the finals.

Those who reach the finals will be invited to the TV channel’s headquarters to compete in this round.

He noted that countries like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have the highest number of contestants in the Quranic event.

The finals will be held a night before Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Inna lil-Muttaqina Mafaza is the Muslim world’s biggest live Quran recitation competition aired by Al-Kawthar, an Arabic-language channel within the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s World Service.