TEHRAN -- A ceremony was held at Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) Mosque here to honor Iranian qari Yunes Shahmoradi for his great accomplishment.
Shahmoradi won the top prize in the 2nd edition of Otr Elkalam international Qur’an contest in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago.
He received a cash prize of three million Saudi riyals for coming first in the Qur’an recitation category of the contest.
A number of Shahmoradi’s Qur’an teachers as well as other Qur’an experts and Qur’an learners of the Sabil al-Rishad Qur’an School were present at the honoring ceremony.
Shahmoradi attended the Sabil al-Rishad Qur’an School.
Two groups of the Qur’an learners of the school performed choral recitations of the Holy Book at the ceremony, one group imitating the style of late Egyptian qari Abdul Fattah al-Sha’shai and the other imitating the style of anther Egyptian Qur’an master Sheikh Mustafa Ismail.
There were also Qur’an recitations by a number of senior qaris attending the event.
Then several Qur’an masters took the podium to highlight Shahmoradi’s achievement, his humbleness and his perseverance and eagerness in learn the Qur’an.
Director of the Sabil al-Rishad Qur’an School noted that a large number of people have been seeking to join the school since Shahmoradi’s success in winning the Saudi Qur’an competition.
The second edition of the Otr Elkalam international Qur’an competition was held as an initiative of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA).
It was launched on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan on March 23.
The competition is designed to highlight the rich diversity of cultures in the Islamic world, and the vocal methods of reciting the Qur’an and raising the call to prayer.
This year, the contest attracted 50,000 Muslim entrants from more than 100 countries, all vying for qualification.
Of the 2,116 contestants who made the cut, 36 participants (18 from Qur’an recitation and 18 specializing in the call to prayer) qualified for the final stages.
In the competition, participants demonstrate their vocal capabilities by reciting verses of the Qur’an before a jury composed of experts in recitation, phonetics and maqamat (music structures).