Women’s Section Can Be Added to Int’l Quran Contest for Muslim Students
In an interview with IQNA, Rizwan Darwish, a senior Ibtihal reciter who has served as a member of panel of judges in several international Quran contests, said demands for holding the competition also for female university students is logical.
He added that adding a women’s section to the contest would be a successful measure.
The 6th International Quran Competition for Muslim Students is slated to be held in the holy city of Mashhad, northeast of Iran, on January 30- February 3, 2017.
The Iranian Academics Quranic Activities Organization, affiliated to the Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, has organized the competition biennially since 2006 with the aim of promoting unity and cooperation among Muslim world students and elevating the level of Quranic activities.
While the competition has so far been held for men only, there have been calls for a section for female university students to be added to the two-yearly Quranic event.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rizwan Darwish hailed the selection of Mashhad as the host city of this edition of the contest, saying that participating students from around the Muslim world could get more acquainted with the Razavi culture during the contest.
He further highlighted the role of international Quranic events,
including the Muslim students Quran contest, in strengthening Islamic unity.
"I have attended the previous five editions of the competition as a member of
the panel of judges and have soon no case of discord or discrimination in the competitions
but I saw that all the participants compete in the fields of recitation and
memorization in a friendly manner and based on the love for the Quran,” the Syrian
Quranic figure also said.
He went on to say that hosting such a competition by Iran, a Shia majority country, helps to dispel myths and baseless allegations that Shia Muslims pay little attention to the Holy Quran.
Asked about his preferred programs on the sidelines of the contest, Rizwan Darwish suggested that Tawasheeh and Ibtihal recitations as well as seminars on rejection of violence, Takfir and hate and promotion of love and kindness can be part of the sideline programs.
