Morocco’s Youness Mustafa Gharbi Wins Saudi Quran Reciting Competition

Youness Gharbi is the latest in a list of other Moroccans to have claimed a prize for his Quran recitation skills, this time in Saudi Arabia.

Rabat – Youness Gharbi is the latest in a list of other Moroccans to have claimed a prize for his Quran recitation skills, this time in Saudi Arabia.

Visually impaired Gharbi won the “Otr Elkalam” competition on Wednesday, with a prize of SAR 5 million ($1.3 million).

He received his prize during a ceremony celebrating the completion of the international Quran reciting competition whose name is Arabic for the fragrance of speech.

The Chairman of the board of directors of Saudi’s general entertainment authority, Turki Al-Seikh, delivered the prize to Youness Gharbi and another British contestant Mohamed Ayoub who came in second place.

Mohamed Ayoub received an award of a little over half a million dollars.

In the call to prayer category, a Turkish contestant came in first place, Muhsin Kara, receiving SAR 2 million ($533,200), while another Turkish contestant Albijan Celik came in second place, winning a prize of SAR1 million ($266,600).

Saudi contestant Anas Al-Rahili came in fourth place with a SAR250,000 ($66,650) award.

During the ceremony, the event organizers announced that the “Otr Elkalam” competition will open its doors for international Quran reciters during Ramadan next year.

The “Otr Elkalam” competition was organized by the Saudi government’s General Entertainment Authority this month, to coincide with Ramadan.

Moroccans are no strangers to winning Quran reciting awards. In 2020, Five Moroccans won a Quran reciting competition award in Abu Dhabi during a virtual ceremony.

Nearly all prizewinners of the Abu Dhabi competition were Moroccans.

Moroccan Fatima-Zahrae Mrabet claimed the first place in the women’s “All Nationalities” category, and Moroccan Kaoutar Zribi and Chaimae Lchab trailed behind respectively in second and third place.

Moroccan men equally distinguished themselves at the ceremony, with Anas Mhamdi ranking first in the men’s “All Nationalities” category and Abdellah Bela ranking third within a different category.