The Pakistani contestant Abdul Rashid bin Abd al-Razzaq did not imagine that touring the streets of his village to celebrate his first victory in local competitions on his father’s shoulders would lead him to the largest international competition in reciting the Quran and raising adhan in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after two decades of that success, which still motivates him to achieve more success in his life.

Abdul Rashid, who started participating in religious competitions from a young age, participated in the adhan track competitions for today’s episode of Otr Elkalam, one of the initiatives of the General Entertainment Authority. He began adhan with various maqamat that touched the hearts of the viewers and influenced their souls through humble spiritual performances.

He competed against the Emirati contestant Hamid Al-Raisi, who started raising adhan from an early age and studied maqamat and phonetics. Al-Raisi qualified for the next stage, thanks to his elaborate performance that won the admiration of the jury.

In the recitation track, which is the last in the current stage of the competition, the Moroccan reciter Abdullah Al-Daghri qualified at the expense of his American rival of Somali origin, Ahmed Ali, thus completing the list of the semi-finalists with eight contestants for recitation and the same number for adhan.

The Otr Elkalam competition is the first initiative in the world to organize a joint competition for recitation and adhan at the same time. The first edition of the competition succeeded in attracting distinguished reciters and muazzins from all over the world, which confirms the Kingdom’s leadership in launching qualitative competitions and its support for talents in various fields.