Moroccan Man Wins 2nd Prize in Qatari Quran Recitation Contest

Rabat – Moroccan young man Mohamed Qastali has won the second prize in the fifth edition of the Katara Quran Recitation competition in Qatar, Cultural Village Foundation Katara tweeted on Sunday.

Qastali’s Quran recitation skills secured him the second place in the competition, with a prize of QR 300,000 ($79,983), beating out over 900 contestants from 48 countries, including 32 non-Arab countries.

Egypt’s Bilal Abdel Hamid Mohamed, the first-place winner, received QR 500,000 ($133,305), while third-place winner Ahmed al-Sayyid al-Ghitani, also from Egypt, received a prize of GR 100,000 ($26,661).

Broadcasted on Qatar Television through 26 episodes under the slogan “decorate the Quran with your voices,” the competition was sponsored by Qatar’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.

This year’s edition of the Katara Quran competition was held face-to-face after the past two editions were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Katara Director General Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti congratulated the winners, saying he hoped that the COVID-19 restrictions would be completely lifted by the time of the sixth edition in 2023 to allow more contestants to participate.

Katara is a small cultural village located in Doha, Qatar, on the eastern coast between West Bay and the Pearl. The village hosts cultural events and social gatherings, as well as international competitions.

Moroccans are no strangers to winning Quran recitation competitions. Last month, Youness Gharbi, a visually impaired Moroccan man, won the Saudi “Otr Elkalam” Quran reciting competition, with a prize of SAR 5 million (MAD 3.4 million).

Moroccan Quran reciters also dominated at the Emirati “Inking for the Noble Quran and its Sciences 2022” competition in April. Three Moroccans, Abdelbaset Warach, Monjid Hamza, and Elias Kroum, claimed the top three positions in the men’s category, while two Moroccan women, Khadija Ojbar and Zainab Lachhab, won first and second place in the women’s category in the same competition.