63rd Int’l Quran Contest in Malaysia Opens, Draws Contestants from 52 Nations
The event, which is officially known as the Malaysian International Al-Quran Recitation and Memorisation Assembly (MTHQA), began at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre, with people, contestants, and high-ranking officials in attendance.
A total of 76 representatives from 52 countries are set to compete in two categories of Quran recitation and memorization. According to Bernama, 24 men and 12 women compete in the recitation category which is held in the evenings, and 27 men and 13 women in the memorization category are organized in the mornings.
All the events are broadcast live from the social media accounts of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM). The contest will wrap up on August 24.
MTHQA a platform to understand Quran
Addressing the opening ceremony, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that the event was an effort to increase the understanding of the holy book.
He said Muslims should study and appreciate the Quran to be able to provide explanations and awareness to people of various races and religions.
Raising understanding about Quran can confront Islamophobia, desecration
The Malaysian official also said that the Islamophobia that occurred in the world was due to certain parties who had superficial thoughts about Islam.
"That's why when there burning incident of the Quran in Sweden, apart from condemning it, I decided to order the publication of the Quran in all languages including Swedish, (a total of) one million Qurans to be distributed in Malaysia and the rest of the world.
"15,000 al-Qurans have been sent to Sweden to be distributed to universities and study centers so that they can evaluate and read, and for me, for the government, this move is more reasonable to give them an understanding (of Islam)," he said.
Source: Agencies
