By ARAB NEWS

RIYADH: Under the aegis of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Call and Guidance will organize next month the 33rd King Abdul Aziz International Contest for Memorization of the Holy Qur’an with the participation of contestants from 53 countries.

“The contest to be organized in Makkah aims at highlighting the Kingdom’s interest in the memorization and recitation of the Holy Qur’an. The Kingdom wants to promote learning of the Holy Qur’an among the Muslim youth,” said the public relations director of the contest Salman bin Muhammad Al-Amri in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday. He said out of 161 contestants from 53 countries, 87 competitors will be sent by their governments while 66 will represent Islamic organizations.

The contest will have 10 judges. Four of them from the Kingdom. They are Ibrahim Al-Dossary, Emad Zuhair Hafiz, Saud Al-Ghonaim and Salim Al-Shenqiti, he said. The judges from outside the Kingdom include Ahmad Al-Maasarawi from Egypt, Samih Al-Asaminah from Jordan, Lamat Al-Ameen from Mauritania, Abdul Malik Lazim from Malaysia, Muhammad Hakeem from Pakistan and Sadiq Zawiyah from Nigeria.

He added that the Kingdom spends annually more than SR100 million for the contest without seeking any material motive.

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