Rabat – Morocco is leading the charts in terms of the number of candidates that have qualified for the final stage of the sixth edition of the Katara Quran Recitation competition in Qatar, with a total of 21 Moroccan Quran reciters having qualified for the award.
The Katara Cultural Village Foundation has revealed the names of the 100 candidates that have qualified for the award, and Morocco makes up more than a fifth of the contestants.
Moroccans who have advanced to the competition’s final round include Mustapha Zahid, Youssef Karim Allah, Yassine Ben El Ghali, Yassir Toumi, Zakaria Ezzirek, Salman Taicha, Salim Aboumalik, Chouaib Loubihi, Abderrahman Ezzirek, and Abdellah Edghri.
Also qualified for the award are Moroccans Omar Idriss Ben Alaarabi Tagha, El Houssin Abouseksou, Ismail Eddahmani, Ilyam El Mahyaoui, Ilyass Kerroum, Ayoub Jtioui, Oussama Elkhoulti, Anass Hamman, Ayoub Ennaji, Mohamed Qastali, and Oussama Ouardi.
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The annual competition aims to encourage and honor distinguished and talented Quran reciters from across the world, as well as “discover talents and present them to the world as distinguished Quran reciters,” indicated the organizers in a statement.
The selected participants represent 17 Arab nations (58 contestants) and 19 non-Arab countries (42 contestants), including India, Indonesia, Belgium, and Turkiye, among others.
The winner of first place is set to receive a prize of QR500,000 ($137,324), Qatari news outlet the Peninsula indicated. Meanwhile, second and third-place winners will receive QR300,000 ($82,394) and QR100,000 ($27,464) respectively.
Moroccans are no strangers to dominating international Quran competitions, as well as achieving outstanding results.
The previous edition of the Katara award saw the participation of several Moroccan Quran reciters, including Mohamed Qastali, who won the second prize in the fifth edition of the competition. Qastali has also featured among the 100 finalists.
