Release Presse – In accordance with the recommendation of the Higher Council of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema, meeting in its second session, in Fez, on Saturday and Sunday 24-25 Safar 1440H, corresponding to 3-4 November 2018, concerning the organization of an annual Quranic Competition; and following the success of the previous three editions, the Foundation will be organizing, online, the finals of the fourth edition of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema Competition for memorization, recitation and psalmody of the Holy Qur’an. The competition will be held online on Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10 to 12 Ramadan 1444H, corresponding to 1-3 April 2023, from the city of Fez, Kingdom of Morocco.

During the months of January and February 2023, the General Secretariat of the Foundation held qualification screening rounds for this fourth edition, in coordination and cooperation with all of the Foundation’s sections in African countries.  Each section held a competition at national level to choose the winners who will represent the country at the finals. All thirty-four sections of the Foundation will take part in the forthcoming competition.

Ninety-three (93) contestants (including 11 female candidates) will participate in the competition. For three days, they will be competing for the first positions in three categories of memorization and intonation, namely:

• Complete memorization category with psalmody, according to the narration of Warsh, on the authority of Nafi’;
• Complete memorization category with various recitations and other narrations
• Intonation category with the memorization of at least five hizb.

A jury composed of accomplished scholars and reciters, attending in person in Fez, from Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Tanzania, Gabon and Central Africa, will supervise the assessment and scoring of male and female competitors.

In coordination with a central technical team from Fez, the contest will take place through the Zoom conferencing platform, with the participation of Member Countries’ technicians and media professionals who previously attended training courses in ICT and audio-visual communication techniques organized by the Foundation’s General Secretariat in April 2021 in Fez, Kingdom of Morocco, and in Dakar, Republic of Senegal, in July of the same year.

Through this contest, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the bond between young African Muslims and the holy Book of the Almighty, and to encourage them to memorize and recite it. Organizing this year’s contest remotely will make it possible to ensure effective, responsible participation of the sections in the Foundation’s main activities. Thus, the Foundation will be able to shed light on its activities within member sections and open up constructively to all segments of society.

It should be pointed out that the first edition of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema’s Competition for memorization, recitation and psalmody of the Holy Qur’an took place in Fez, Kingdom of Morocco. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the second edition of the competition was held remotely, from Fez, and a ceremony in honor of the winners was held in the compound of the Grand Mosque in Dakar, Senegal. As for the third edition of the competition, it was held at the Mohammed VI Mosque of Dar es Salaam, in the summer of 2022, in the United Republic of Tanzania, with the participation of 86 male and female candidates.