CAIRO,
October 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Ukraine is making its debut at
the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award competition.
Suliman
Woleef will vie against contesters from 76 Muslim countries as well as
a number of non-Muslim countries, home to large Muslim minorities, the
Federation of Social Organizations in Ukraine (Arraid) said in a
statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.
The
annual competition accepts only one contestant from each Muslim
country or a Muslim minority nation.
Dubai
International Holy Quran Award begins every year on the first day of
the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, marked this year on Tuesday,
October 3.
A
cohort of Muslim scholars and intellectuals deliver a series of
lectures that discuss various Islamic and ideological issues during
the first week.
This
is followed by the Holy Quran recitation and memorization contest, in
which the panel tests a number of six to eight contestants daily
between 8 and 18 of Ramadan.
The
gala is concluded on the 20th of Ramadan with a ceremony held under
the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown
Prince and UAE Defense Minister and the award's sponsor and founder.
Responsibility
 |
|
A
file photo of Sheikh Mohammed, the award's sponsor and founder,
honoring an award winner.
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This
is Wolief’s first participation in an international contest, since
he only participated in two other local contests for Quran
memorization.
"It
is a big responsibility to represent Ukraine before the whole
world," he asserted.
Woleef,
a student in the Radwan center for the memorization of Qur’an, a
center affiliated to Arraid, has memorizing the Noble Qur’an after a
year and a half of hard work.
His
was the first such case in the former Soviet republic after long
decades of persecution against the Muslim minority under the Communist
rule.
Radwan
center, the only place for the memorization of Qur’an, is a boarding
school in Ukraine where some 20 students, aged 14-19, are studying the
Islamic tenets.
Established
in 1997, Arraid is the largest Islamic group in Ukraine.
Ukraine
is home to some two million Muslims making up 4% of the overall
48-million population.
There
are up to 200 mosques and 20 Islamic centers nationwide, which suffer
no restrictions by the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine
remained under the Soviet Communist grip until the collapse of the
Soviet Union, after which it won independence in August 1991.
The
few Islamic centers in Ukraine managed to attract the Muslim minority,
who were allowed to observe their religious practices and rites and
were allowed to build mosques and Islamic associations.
