Young Moroccan Wins Quran Recital Prize

A twelve-year-old Moroccan boy, Abdul Baset Abdel-Fattah Wurash , has won the QR 100,000 ($27,000 USD) top prize in the final of the World Holy Quran Recitation Competition of 2011 held in the Katara cultural village in Doha.

Two other twelve-year-olds were also minor place winners. Amjad Yahya Nasser (Yemen) came second with QR75,000. Third prize went to a young girl, Nuralchhama Takya bint Nuri Najmy, from Malaysia, who bagged QR50,000.

Some 2425 children from 46 islamic countries took part in the competition, which uses, for the first time, a multilingual Quran website and which aims at reviving the spirit of competition among children in Holy Quran reciting and introducing the brilliant ones and honouring them for their creative abilities.

Abdul Baset Abdel-Fattah Rush (Morocco), Nuralchhama Takya bint Nuri Najmy (Malaysia) and Amjad Yahya Nasser (Yemen), went through final tests and were chosen from 63 finalists.

The festival, described by local media as "colorful and cheerful", was held this week at the stage of the Katara cultural village with a number of scholars, religious sheikhs and preachers from a number of arab and islamic countries and the United States also attending.

A recitation contest award will be accorded to non-Arabic speakers while the best Quran teachers will be awarded "For The Teacher", a price dedicated to encourage the Holey Quran teachers all over the world. In press statements to reporters following the festival ,HE the Minister of Endowments) and Islamic Affairs Dr. Ghaith bin Mubarak Al Kuwari expressed pride of the ministry for the success of such a competition and said, "the ministry's partnership with Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC) has yielded such a good harvest which embodied in such a competition".