Six Guinness Records broken in Saudi and Iran-dominated Quran and Adhan contest
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Riyadh: His Excellency Royal Advisor Turki Al-Sheikh, who serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), has presented awards to the 20 victors of the "Otr Al Kalam" program in its final episode that aired today. The program, which featured categories for Quran recitation and Call to Prayer (Adhan), recognized the accomplishments of its contestants by awarding a total of SAR 13 million in prize money.
Mohammed Al-Sharif, a contestant from Saudi Arabia, emerged as the winner in the Call to Prayer (Adhan) category, receiving a prize of SAR 2 million. On the other hand, Yunus Shahmeradi, a participant from Iran, won first place in the Quran Recitation category and was awarded SAR 3 million.
The competition garnered six Guinness World Records, making it the largest Quran competition in terms of participating countries and attracting the most participants in both the Quran recitation and Adhan categories. The competition also set records for offering the biggest prizes in both the Quran and Adhan competitions.
During the final episode, H.E. Turki Al-Sheikh presented the awards to the winners in the Quran recitation and Adhan categories. Yunus Shahmeradi from Iran secured the top spot in the Quran recitation category, while Abdulaziz Al-Faqih from Saudi Arabia came in second place, and Zakaria Al-Zayrak and Abdullah Al-Deghri from Morocco took third and fourth place, respectively. The winners received cash prizes of SAR 3 million, SAR 2 million, SAR 1 million, and SAR 700,000.
In the Adhan category of the "Otr Al-Kalam" program, Mohammed Al-Sharif from Saudi Arabia clinched the top spot and was rewarded with SAR 2 million, while Dia Al-Din bin Nizar Al-Din from Indonesia secured the second position and received SAR 1 million. Raheef Al-Hajj took third place and earned SAR 500,000, while Ibrahim Asad from the UK received SAR 300,000 for his efforts.
The final episode of the show was entirely dedicated to announcing the winners of this year's "Otr Al-Kalam" competition. The episode began with a Quranic recitation by Yunus Gharbi, who won the first edition of the competition from Morocco, followed by an Adhan by Mohsen Kara, the winner of last year's Turkish Adhan category.
The Quran and Adhan competitions are among GEA's global initiatives and part of this year's strategic partnership with the Muslim World League. The competition enables Muslims from all over the world to participate in the qualifiers through simple steps.
Starting from January 2023, this year's competition's preliminary qualifiers drew the participation of over 50,000 contestants from 165 countries. The finalists, comprising 50 contestants, competed in the Quran recitation and Adhan categories through the Otr Al Kalam program, which was broadcasted on MBC and its online platform Shahid.
The competition is a vital initiative by GEA during the Holy month of Ramadan, presenting content that resonates with Ramadan's spiritual ambience. GEA follows rigorous standards and guidelines to ensure competitiveness, with several stages and qualifiers enabling exceptional talents to advance to the finals. Otr Al Kalam, which broadcasts the competition, is one of the most sought-after Ramadan programs and has garnered massive audiences in the Islamic world and many nations globally.