Monrovia – King Mohammed VI Foundation in Liberia has completed its second Quranic reading and recitation competition in Monrovia with Abubarkar H. Sow and Abrahim Sory Barry winning the highly competitive Quranic recitation race.
The second stage of the Quranic reading competition was held in two categories including Complete Memorization of the Holy Quran with Warsh style of recitation of Nafi, complete memorization of the Holy Quran in various styles of recitations, and the recitation of selected parts of the Holy Quran.
The second stage of the competition saw eighteen contestants participated, seven in category, and eleven in category two. Abubarkar H. Sow won the category one of the competition which focused on memorization of the entire Holy Quran, while Abrahim Sory Barry won category two of the competition, focusing on selected parts of The Holy Quran.
A previous completion held in April this year by the Foundation for Quranic memorization competition in Monrovia saw Mohammed Mustapha Barry and Mohammed Omar Ramadan winning first and second categories of then competition, and the pairs were sent to the Kingdom of Morocco as Liberia’s representatives for the grand competition in that Arab Republic.
Winners Abubarkar Sow and Abrahim Barry are expected to travel to Libreville, Gabon, to take part in a week’s long Quranic recitation from March 25, 2020 to April 1, 2020, organized by the Mother Foundation in the Kingdom of Morocco. The pairs will serve as Liberia’s sole representatives while in the Gabonese capital.
At Saturday’s Quranic recitation and memorization competition, each of the winners received a special motivational prize of US$100 from Liberia’s Internal Affairs (Interior) Minister Varney Sirleaf who lauded the efforts of the foundation.
“Islam is here to teach us those great values of the Prophet and learn to do the will of The Almighty Allah. I am very proud and want to thank the Foundation and organizers of this competition. We hope that this competition will even unite us further as Muslims and make us to be able to do those things that Allah wants us to do,” Minister Varney Sirleaf said during the official commencement of the competition.
He also pleaded with organizers of the competition to decentralize it in order to allow other talented young Muslims from other parts of the country expose their talents to the outside world.
“I am aware that this is a very good competition that will hopefully impact Islam and our young people a lot. But, I am also appealing to you (Foundation’s Heads) to extend this initiative to other counties so that other talented kids there, too, can participate and have their talents exposed,” he urged.
Also speaking to participants during the opening of the competition, the King Mohammed VI Foundation’s Chairman in Liberia Sheikh Omaru Kamara praised contributors to the competition and called for continued support to the initiative.
“We are very happy that you all have left your personal activities just to ensure you are here to make this competition a success. This is something Allah wants us to continue to do for the sake of Islam and for young people. These initiatives would eventually see Islam grow stronger and help to teach great values and principles of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be Upon Him-PBUH),” Sheikh Kamara said.
King Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema in Liberia is a faith-based institution consisting of over 200 Islamic Scholars. The institution provides and instills Islamic discipline, values, and the principles of Islam through the teachings of the Holy Quran.