Madar (Nouakchott) - Prime Minister Moctar Ould Djay on Sunday opened in Nouakchott the second edition of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud competition for memorising the Holy Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah, with contestants representing 16 West African countries.
The competition, organised by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance in cooperation with the Mauritanian Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Original Education, runs until 19 November. It covers several fields of memorising the Holy Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah, under the supervision of a ten-member jury, five for each field.
The Quran competitions are divided into five branches, ranging from memorising the entire Quran with the seven canonical readings to memorisation combined with tajwid (recitation rules) and exegesis, in addition to branches devoted to memorising parts of the Quran.
In the field of the Prophet's Sunnah, participants compete in five branches, including memorising hadith collections such as "Al-Lu'lu' wal-Marjan", "Umdat al-Ahkam" and "Bulugh al-Maram", as well as a test of their knowledge of hadith narrators and of explaining the meaning of their terms.
The organiser has set aside prizes totalling 1,140,000 Saudi riyals, to be shared among the winners in the competition's various branches.
