Muscat – The Sultan Qaboos Higher Center for Culture and Science announced the resumption of Sultan Qaboos competition for the Holy Quran after it was stopped for two consecutive years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The centre stated that the announcement of registration date will be issued through the website www.quran.gov.om this month. ‘The preliminary qualifiers will begin during the month of August, followed by the final qualifiers in November 2022,’ Oman News Agency stated.

It added that the announcement of the winners of the competition and their honouring ceremony will be in December 2022.

Among the most important objectives of the competition are; urging Omanis to memorise and assimilate the Q’uran, raising a Q’uranic generation, finding glorified reciters of the Q’uran who are perfect for its performance and strengthening the sultanate’s presence in international Q’uranic competitions.

The competition includes 7 levels, the first level memorising the entire Q’uran, the second level memorising 24 consecutive parts, the third level memorising 18 consecutive parts. These are in addition to memorising twelve, six, four and two consecutive parts of the Q’uran.

The competition began in 1992 with three levels, and its march was accompanied by various pauses of development and modernisation until it settled on seven levels, and the last session (the twenty-ninth session) was in 2019 with the participation of 2,140 contestants.