Saudi Arabia is witnessing these days the events of the final qualifiers for the international Holy Quran and call to prayer competition, organized by the General Entertainment Authority. In the competition, 36 contestants from different countries compete for the best voices in reciting the Holy Quran (the holy book of Islam) and delivering the call to prayer (the Islamic call to prayer) delivered by a muezzin at prescribed times of the day in mosques all over the world.
The competition is in its second phase of the final qualifiers. The first phase ended a few days ago and the quarter-finals began, in which the contestants compete for the semi-finals, in which 12 contestants will compete, with 6 contestants for each category. 4 contestants will qualify for the final to compete for prizes, whose total amounts to SAR12 million ($3.2 million).
Contestants from different nationalities participate in the competition. The quarter-finals include contestants from Saudi Arabia, the UK, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Iran.
All the contestants went through the preliminary qualifying stages that started in 2019, in which more than 40,000 contestants from 80 countries around the world participated via the Internet, before coming to compete in the final qualifiers in Saudi Arabia.
The competition is judged by a jury of 13 members specialized in the sciences of the Quran, maqams and vocal pitches. The jury members are from Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait and Senegal.
The competition is the first initiative of its kind in the world to combine the Holy Quran recitation and the call to prayer in one competition with valuable prizes. It is shown on Otr Elkalam (Scent of Speech) TV show on the Saudia channel and Shahid platform at 5 pm, Riyadh time.
