Bahraini Quran reciter Mohammad Mujahid won the prize of SAR1 million ($266,600) for achieving third place in the international competition of the Holy Quran recitation and Call to Prayer Itr Elkalam (Scent of Speech).
Moroccan contestant Younes Mustafa Gharbi won the first place in the Holy Quran recitation category, with a prize of SAR5 million ($1,333,300), while British contestant Mohammed Ayoub Asif received SAR2 million ($530,500) for winning second place, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
In the call to prayer category, the two Turkish contestants, Mohsin Kara and Albijan Celik came first and second. Kara won first place and received SAR2 million ($533,200), while Celik won second place and received SAR1 million ($266,600). The third place went to the Saudi contestant Abdul Rahman bin Adel, who received SAR500,000 ($133,300), while the other Saudi contestant, Anas Al Rahili, won the fourth place and received SAR250,000 (66,650).
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Al Sheikh honored the winners and presented them the valuable prizes allocated to the most beautiful voices in the Holy Quran recitation and the Call to Prayer. The total value of the prizes is SAR12 million ($3.2 million).
Al Sheikh announced the continuation of the competition for the next year, with different numbers of contestants from different countries around the world, from which the current competition was attended by skilled participants in reciting the Holy Quran and delivering the call to prayer.
The competition is one of the most important ones launched by the General Entertainment Authority during Ramadan, with its content that suits the spirituality of the month, as well as its standards and provisions that enhance competitiveness, through stages and classifications through which qualifying procedures are carried out to ensure that the best-qualified talents reach the final stages.
The competition jury consisted of 13 members specialized in judging Quranic competitions. It also includes experts in international Quranic competitions, in addition to imams and muezzins from the Two Holy Mosques and senior world Holy Quran reciters, who enrich viewers with knowledge by evaluating the contestants and offering observations and notes about their performance to benefit viewers and educate them about the sciences of the Holy Quran and ways of reciting it.