Monrovia – King Mohammad VI Foundation for African Islamic scholars today concluded one-day Quranic memorization competition in Monrovia, with Mohammed Mustapha Barry and Mohammed Omar Ramadan winning first and second categories of then competition.
Following the end of the completion of the highly competitive Quranic recitation competition, the first and second categories winners received tickets for their automatic qualification for the King’s competition slated for month of Ramadan to be held in the Kingdom of Morocco this year. Several other participants of the competition also received separate cash prizes for their splendid performances.
There are ten participants in the competition. Winners of the 2019 Quranic memorization contest are expected to travel to the Kingdom of Morocco in the month of Ramadan for King’s Quranic recitation competition in that Arab Republic.
Participants of the competition included Abdullah Barry, Mohammed Wurrie Barry, Ibrahim M. Baldee, Bangalee I. Donzo, Mohammed Omar Ramadan, and Abrahim Mohammed Sillah. Others are Abubakar H. Sow, Mohammed Fadilou Barry, Abdurahman Diallo, and Mohammed Mustapha Barry.
“I welcome all of you to this competition. You’ve been selected, and I want you to do your best. Our only regret is that because of the condition, up to now, we cannot have any female; We thank you very much for coming”, Sheikh Omaru Kamara, Chairman of the National Muslim Council of Liberia(NMCL), said during the opening stages of the competition.
“Reading the Quran is an honor more than anything,” Boakai A. Dukuly, Commissioner at the National Elections Commission(NEC) and also big supporter of Islamic activities in Liberia noted. Adding: “So I want you to take this competition very seriously. I want to congratulate you. You couldn’t have come here by sleeping. I know you applied a lot of efforts. I also want to thank the Organizers of this competition. I also in the future we can have female to participate”
For his part, Cllr. Musa Bamba, legal adviser to the King Mohammed VI Foundation for Islamic scholars in Liberia, also asserted that: “We are happy to be here today, though the Muslim community is mourning the unconstitutional and uncivilized removal of Justice Kabinah Ja’neh from the Supreme Court’s bench. We are hopeful that this competition will produce the best result for the Muslim community in Liberia.”
King Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulema is an institution for cooperation, for the exchange of experiences and for the Ulema to make concerted efforts to fulfil their duty and turn a spotlight on the true image of the pristine Islamic faith as well as on its open-minded values, which are based on moderation, tolerance and coexistence.
Amongst other things, the aim of the institution is to make sure those values help promote security, stability and development in Africa,” Foundation Secretary General Sheikh Sualiho M. Dukuly informed the Liberian Network.
“The Foundation, through its branches in African countries, and together with other religious institutions, continues to play its role in disseminating enlightened religious precepts and in combating extremism, reclusiveness and terrorism – which the Islamic faith does not embrace in any way – but which are advocated by some clerics, in the name of Islam.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on June 14 chaired in the nation’s spiritual capital Fez the installation ceremony of the Higher Council of the recently set up Mohammed VI Foundation for African Islamic scholars.
A very important world event, particularly amid the difficult conditions in several African Member States in the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa where risks posed to their spiritual, cultural, social and economic security, as a result of the growing terrorist threats by extremist groups (Boko Haram and others) in the region and the spread of some trends which are inconsistent with the Sunni Malekite school of thought followed by the peoples of African countries.
The creation of this leading institution is another powerful spiritual landmark of the effective model of South – South cooperation in the religious and spiritual realm among African countries to which King Mohammed VI gives utmost attention.
The ceremony was held in the Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez. A university that attained prestigious fame, producing a number of high profile scholars that exercised a strong influence on the intellectual and academic realms in the Muslim world.
For well over twelve hundred years Al-Qarawiyyin has been one of the leading spiritual and educational centres of the Muslim World, a typical institution, of many, underlining how learning constituted the heart of the religion of Islam and its civilization.
During the installation of this prestigious council, King Mohammed addressed the African ulema stressing that that “the aim is to make sure those values help us promote security, stability and development in Africa.” Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulema as an institution for cooperation, for the exchange of experiences and for the Ulema to make concerted efforts to fulfill their duty and turn a spotlight on the true image of the pristine Islamic faith as well as on its open-minded values,” said the Sovereign in a speech during the installation ceremony of the Foundation Higher Council.
The Sovereign expressed confidence that the Foundation, through its branches in African countries, and together with other religious institutions, “will play its role in disseminating enlightened religious precepts and in combating extremism, reclusiveness and terrorism – which our faith does not embrace in any way – but which are advocated by some clerics, in the name of Islam.”
King Mohammed VI underscored that the creation of the Foundation “reflects the depth of the time-honored spiritual bonds between sub-Saharan African peoples and the King of Morocco, Commander of the Faithful. In his Speech, the Sovereign deemed the Foundation as another building block which further enhances Morocco’s strategic policy designed to raise the level of its political and economic cooperation with a number of sisterly African nations, in order, he said, “to make it an effective, solidarity-based partnership, covering all sectors.”