‘Hifz-o-Qiraat contest winners to participate in int’l competition’

The winners of 28th National Hifz-o-Qirat competition would be sent to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia soon to represent the country in the ensuing international Hifz o Qirat completion, additional Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs Muhammad Arshad Bhatti said Thursday.
Addressing the prize-distribution ceremony, he said transparency has been ensured in selecting Huffaz and Qurra for the competition. He distributed cash prizes and merit certificates among the first three winners of National Hifz-o-Qirat competition of all the eight categories.
The cash prizes contained Rs 50,000 for the first award winners, Rs 35,000 for the second position holders and Rs 25,000 for the third position holders.
A total of 63 Huffaz and Qurra, including 16 females, participated in the competition.
A total of 24 cash prizes have been distributed among the successful Huffaz and Qurra.
The Qurra and Huffaz had been selected from each province, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan earlier to participate in eighth category competition. Category one was to recite from the whole Quran. Category II was to recite randomly from 20 Paras (chapters), category III was to recite randomly from 10 ‘Paras’ of the holy Quran.
According to the results, in Hafiz competition category I, ‘Para’ one to thirty of the holy Quran, Hafiz Ehsanullah from Pakistan Army stood first, Hafiz Syed Zeeshan Gilani from Punjab clinched second position and Hafiz Saeed-ur-Rehman from Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw stood third.
In the category of Hifz of first 20 ‘Paras’ of the Holy Quran, Hafiz Muhammad Mujahid Hussain from Punjab clinched the first position. Hafiz Junaid Ahmed from Gilgit-Baltistan won the second position while Hafiz Naik Muhammad from Baluchistan adjudged third by the judges.
In the category of Hifz of the first 10 ‘Paras’ of the holy Quran, Hafiz Saddiq-ur-Rehman from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa secured first position, Hafiz Muhammad Bilal from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) got second prize and Hafiz Muzammil Ahmed from Sindh won third position.
Under the category of Hifz from 1 to 5 ‘Paras’ of the Holy Quran, Hafiz Shakir Ullah from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa got first, Hafiz Kuddama Mubashir from Sindh got the second position and Hafiz Naseebullah from Balochistan got third position.
In the category of Husne-Qirat for youngsters of above 15 years of age (boys) Qari Muhammad Abu Bakar from Punjab and Qari Muhammad Tayyab from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa got first and second positions, respectively, while third position was won by Qari Abdul Wahab from Baluchistran.
The first position in Husn-e-Qirat competition of category VI (girls) was won by Qariah Tayyaba Nasreen from Punjab; Qariah Hira Zafar from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa got second position and Qariah Amna Bibi from the ICT declared third.
In Husn-e-Qiraat category VII (males) below 16 years, Qari Hassan Ali from Balochstan clinched first position, Qari Abdur Rashid from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa secured second and Qari Abdul Samad from Punjab won third position.
In Husn-e-Qirat category VIII (females under sixteen), first position was won by Qariah Umm-e-Habiba from Sindh, Qariah BB Samina from Balochistan clinched second and Qariah Asama Khadim of Punjab clinched third position