On the 14th day of the month of Jumada al-Awwal (November 5), the Republican Qur’an Recitation Contest among students of Islamic educational institutions of Tatarstan took place at the Marjani Mosque in Kazan. This event, now in its sixth year, was organized by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan (DUM RT), the Russian Islamic Institute (RII), Kazan Islamic University (KIU), and the Usman ibn Affan Qur’an Hafiz Training Center.
Twelve teams, each consisting of five students (shakirds), participated in the competition. Among them were students from the KIU (faculties of Qur’anic Sciences (Tahfiz) and Islamic Studies), RII, Muhammadiya Madrasah (Tahfiz and Sharia faculties), Rizaeddin Fakhretdin Almetyevsk Madrasah, Buinsk Madrasah, Kazan Madrasah named after the 1000th Anniversary of Islam, Ak Mächet Madrasah (Naberezhnye Chelny), Fänis Madrasah (Urussu), as well as the Usmaniya Secondary School (Kazan) and the Burbash Children’s Boarding School (Baltasi District).
The event began with the recitation of the Qur’an and du’a led by Sheikh Hafiz-Qurra Ma’mun ar-Rawi, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and chairman of the competition jury. Sheikh Ma’mun ar-Rawi holds the highest degree in Qur’an memorization (hifz) and is a member of the Manuscript Qur’an Commission in Kazan. Other members of the jury included well-known Qur’an experts: Rushan Hazrat Yusupov, leading specialist at the KIU Qur’an Hafiz Training Center, and Sheikh Sayyid-Hussein Sayyid-Ibrahimi, Qur’anic affairs advisor to the Mufti of the Chechen Republic.
At the opening ceremony, speeches were delivered by Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil Hazrat Samigullin, Deputy Mufti for Education, Rector of RII and KIU Rafik Hazrat Mukhametshin, Deputy Mufti for Regional Affairs and Imam-Khatib of Marjani Mosque Ravil Hazrat Zuferov, as well as the event’s sponsors — brothers Fail and Ilyas Gimadov, among others.
Mufti Kamil Hazrat Samigullin welcomed the participants, emphasizing that before the 1917 Revolution, every imam knew the Qur’an by heart. As an example, he mentioned Shihabuddin Marjani, who recited three juz of the Qur’an daily.
“The Qur’an is the main Book, in honor of which all other books are read. Whatever you study, it is studied only to understand this one Book — the Qur’an. Therefore, the path to any knowledge or science begins with the Qur’an. Every book you read in life is read to understand the most important Book — the Qur’an. Everything we learn leads back to one Book — the Qur’an,”
said Mufti Kamil Hazrat.
Abdurashid Hazrat Faizov, head of the Qur’an Hafiz Training Center, noted that the Mufti has made a great contribution to the development of Qur’anic studies in Tatarstan and Russia. He also reminded that the handwritten Qur’an of DUM RT is currently being prepared in the Tatarstan Muftiate. As a token of gratitude for his service, Mufti Kamil Hazrat was awarded the “Servant of the Qur’an” Prize, whose previous laureates include Rafik Mukhametshin and Ilyas Gimadov.
The competition featured two categories:
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Knowledge of the 29th and 30th Juz among students of Islamic educational institutions of Tatarstan;
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Knowledge of the 28th, 29th, and 30th Juz among students of Qur’an memorization centers.
Participants were required to recite the Qur’an by heart in accordance with the rules of tajwid.
The contest was held as follows: each team received a question, had 20 seconds to discuss and choose a speaker, then recited verses from the Qur’an before the jury, who scored their performance. Each team took turns answering and demonstrating their memorization and recitation skills.
Source: dumrt.ru
