Iran Press/ Middle East: Younes Shahmoradi secured first place in the recitation category in the second edition of the Quranic contest Etr al-kalam, the perfume of words in English, and was awarded a prize of $800,000 (three million Saudi Arabian Riyals) on Friday.
Shahmoradi, who was among the four Quran reciters advancing to the final round of the Quranic event, outperformed Abdulaziz al-Faqih from Saudi Arabia in second place, who won $500,000 (two million SAR). Moroccan contestants Zakariya al-Zirak and Abdullah Al-Dughri came in third and fourth.
In the call to prayer category, contestants from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Britain respectively won the top four titles.
The televised competition was organized by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Entertainment in 2019 to celebrate exceptional vocal talents in Quranic recitation and the call to prayer.
The second edition of the Quarnic contest was launched on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 23.
This year’s competition attracted 50,000 Muslim entrants from more than 100 countries at the qualifying stage. Of the 2,116 contestants who made the cut, 36 participants (18 in Quran recitation section and 18 specializing in the call to prayer) advanced to the final stages.
The Quranic event, one of the most popular Ramadan programs in the kingdom with a huge following in the Muslim world, had a total prize pool of $3,000,000 (12 million SAR).
In the closing episode of the Otr Elkalam show that was broadcast on Friday, His Excellency Advisor Turki bin Abdel Mohsen Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of General Entertainment Authority, honored the 20 winners of the valuable prizes of the competition.
The Saudi contestant Mohammed Al-Sharif achieved first place in the call to prayer (adhan) track and won SAR2 million, and the Iranian contestant Younis Shahmradi achieved first place in the recitation track and won SAR3 million.
The competition achieved two record numbers in terms of participating countries in both the Quran and Adhan tracks of the competition and a record number of participants in the Quran competition. It also achieved another record as the largest competition to attract participants in the adhan competition, and two other records as the largest prize pool for a Quran recitation competition and the largest prize pool for a call to prayer (adhan) competition.
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