Makkah, September 7, 2023, The results and names of the winners in the 43rd edition of the King Abdulaziz International Competition for Memorization, Recitation, and Interpretation of the Holy Qur'an have been certified by Sheikh Dr. Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh, Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call, and Guidance. 166 competitors from 117 nations competed in the tournament, which was held at the Grand Mosque. They competed in all five competition categories, and the total prize money for this event was SAR 4,000,000. Ayoub bin Abdulaziz Al-Wahibi, a Saudi Arabian, took first place in the first category and was awarded a cash reward of SAR 500,000. Saad bin Saadi Sleim of Algeria took second place and received SAR450,000 in prize money, while Abu Al-Hasan Hassan Najm of Chad finished third and earned SAR400,000.
Ammar bin Salem Al-Shahri of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia won first place and a prize of SAR 300,000 in the second category. Second-place winner Mohammed bin Adnan Al-Omari of Bahrain took home SAR 275,000 in cash. Abdulaziz bin Malik Atli, a Syrian, took third place and was awarded a prize of SAR250,000.
Mohammed bin Ibrahim Mohammed from Somalia took first place in the third category and was awarded SAR 200,000 in cash. Shuaib bin Mohammed Hassan of Sweden took second place and won SAR190,000. Faisal Ahmed of Bangladesh took third place and received SAR180,000 in Saudi Riyals. Mohammed Mufid Al-Azza of Indonesia took fourth place and received SAR 170,000. The final place finisher, Siraj Al-Din Muammar Kandi of Libya, was awarded SAR 160,000.
The following are the winners in the fourth category: Senegalese Mohammed Ghai won the top award of SAR150,000 for his efforts. Yassin Abdulrahman of Uganda came in third and won a prize of SAR130,000, while Hatem Abdulhamid Falah of Libya took second place and received a prize of SAR140,000. Mashfiqur Rahman of Bangladesh earned SAR 120,000 for finishing in fourth place, and Abdulkader Yousef Mohammed of Somalia earned SAR 110,000 to complete the top five.
In the fifth category, Elias Abdou from Larionion took first place and received SAR 65,000 in prize money, while Ibrahim Shahbandari from India took second place and received SAR 60,000. Mustafa Sinnanovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina took third place and won SAR55,000, followed by Marwan bin Shalal from the Netherlands in fourth place and SAR50,000. Lastly, Hassib Amrullah of North Macedonia finished fifth and won a SAR 45,000 award.
