Iranian Cultural Center Holds Quran Contest in India
According to the website of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO), it was the 17th edition of the competition held in cooperation with ICRO’s cultural deputy.
145 contenders from different 15 states of India competed in the categories of memorization and recitation of the Holy Quran.
61 of them took part in memorization of the entire Quran while the other 84 competed in recitation.
Two Iranian Quran masters, Hossein Toroqi in memorization and Yusef Afrash in memorization, joined three Indian Quranic figures, Muhammad Nasireddin Minshavi from Hyderabad, Muzaffar al-Hassan Ashrafi from Moradabad, and Azadar Abass from Mumbai, to form the competition’s panel of judges.
Winners of the contest were announced and awarded at a ceremony at the end of the three-day event.
Addressing the ceremony, Iranian cultural attache in India, Ali Dehgahi, referred to the history of the annual Quran competition, noting that it is received very well by India’s Muslim population.
He also referred to the Islamic unity week and underlined the need for more efforts to enhance unity among Muslims from different Islamic schools of thought.
During their stay in the South Asian country, Toroqi and Afrash also attended two Quran recitation sessions held by the Iranian Cultural Center in New Delhi.
The 17th day of the month of Rabi al-Awwal in the lunar Hijri calendar (which fell on Saturday, December 17 this year) is believed by the Shia Muslims to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), while Sunni Muslims regard the 12th day of the month as the birthday of the last prophet.
The interval between the two dates is celebrated every year as the Islamic Unity Week.
Late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini (RA) declared the occasion as the Islamic Unity Week back in the 1980s.
http://iqna.ir/fa/news/3554797
