Ishakov honors one of the winners

By Riyadh Ahmad, IOL Russia Correspondent

TATARSTAN, Russia, May 10 (IslamOnline.net) – A contest for the memorization of the Glorious Qur'an, the first ever in the Russian Federation since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was concluded Thursday, May 8.

The Russian Islamic University (RIU) in Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan province, hosted scores of university and school students coming from the four corners of Russia, under the patronage of the Islamic World League (IWL).

Vying in the competition were 90 males and 20 females.

The judging panel was presided over by Tatarstan Mufti and RIU president Othman Ishakov along with a number of the Russian clergy and some of the university's professors.

The contestants were held into three categories in accordance with the number of Juz's (parts of the Qur'an) they memorized.

The first day, Monday, May 6, was earmarked for those who learnt three Juz's by heart, the second for five Juz's and the third for more than seven.

In the first category, Atiabayov Samedudin, a RIU student, came first, Seifudin Salih second and Al-Taibayv Renant third.

In the second, Youssubov Rashid came first and Mahmmoudov Dhamir second, while in the third category, which witnessed close competition, Ezzatullah Abdullah came first and Abdulrahman Khalil second.

"The number of the Russian Muslim youth who memorized some parts of the Glorious Qur'an has increased over the past six years," Abdullah told IslamOnline.net in exclusive statements.

He added that "the spirit of Islam has been revived after the relapse of some 70 years since the establishment of the former Soviet Union in 1922."

Abdullah further said that the Soviets were arresting anyone who tried to memorize the Qur'an and sentencing him/her to death or life imprisonment.

The chairwoman of Russia's Muslim women federation, the mother and wife of Ishakov also took part in the contest.

"This is the first contest to be held in the Russian Federation…The past contests were confined to the university students," Ishakov's deputy, Soliman Zaribov, told IOL.

He added that the contest helped encourage Russian Muslim youths to learn more about Islam and discover their untapped skills in memorizing the Glorious Qur'an.

Zaribov said RIU is the first and the most important Islamic university in Russia, noting that it was established in 2000 and joined by students from Russia, Siberia, and Chechnya.

But he cited an acute shortage of Arabic curricula for most of the subjects.

"We hope that charity people would help us print such Arabic books for the interest of our students…It is a noble work indeed," said Zaribov.