Quran Contest in India to Wrap Up Saturday

New Delhi (IQNA) – The 19th edition of a Quran competition annually organized on the occasion of Islamic Unity Week will conclude in a ceremony Saturday night.

According to IQNA dispatches, the contest got underway in the Indian capital on Thursday.

A total of 116 Qaris and memorizers from different parts of India qualified for the competition, which is hosted by the Iranian Cultural Center in India.

There are 80 competing in the recitation category while the other 36 are vying for the top prize in memorization.

Three Quran experts from India and three others from Iran form the panel of judges.

Winners will be announced and awarded at the closing ceremony Saturday evening. 

The previous edition of the Quran competition in 2017 was held with 155 participants, including 68 memorizers of the entire Quran and 87 Qaris, from 16 states of India.

More than 200 million Muslims live in India. The country’s Muslim population is the world’s third largest and the world’s largest Muslim-minority population. 

The 17th day of the month of Rabi al-Awwal in the lunar Hijri calendar (November 25 this year) is believed by Shia Muslims to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), while Sunni Muslims regard the 12th day of the month (November 20 this year) as the birthday of the last prophet.

The interval between the two dates is celebrated every year as the Islamic Unity Week.

Late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini (RA) declared the occasion as the Islamic Unity Week back in the 1980s.