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Mr. Yaser Muhammad Atef Abdel Kader, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, hosted Mr. Suleyman Valiyev, a participant of the World Contest on Memorizing the Koran, gaining the 8th place in the fifth nomination, in the Egypt Embassy building on August 16, 2012, after his coming back to Ukraine.

 

The contest hosted by Cairo is a prestigious one that brings together best experts of the Koran from all over the world; participants from more than 60 countries were competing this year. As the participation requires comprehensive training, Ukraine, unfortunately, could not offer a more competent competitor. 

Mr. Ambassador tells the story of attempts to invite Ukrainian representatives for participation in the contest: “It was prior to this year that we wanted to send participants, but, unfortunately, we failed; Suleyman, therefore, was the first participant in my cadence. We were expecting this quite a long time; each time that we informed Muslim religious and public organizations in Ukraine about forthcoming competitions, we received one and the same response: ‘We express much regret, but we still lack higher level competitors’. Praise be to the Most High, in this year our brother Suleyman had a worthy debut from Ukraine; he represented Ukraine excellently, and showed that Ukraine also had people knowing and reciting the Koran”.  

It should be reminded that Suleyman Valiyev learnt the whole Koran by heart when he was 17. He is a graduate from the Hafiz School in Crimea at the Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea, operated under the auspice of the All-Ukrainian Association of Public Organizations (AAPO) “Alraid”.    

After this he studied in Yemen where he got bachelor degree. When he came back to Ukraine, he and his teachers decided that the competence level acquired by him would allow him to make a try in a higher level contest like this.

This contest involved 5 nominations on the proficiency of the Koran, and a participant could choose any nomination for participation by taking consideration of his capacities. The program covered 10 days, during which there were tests on the Koran.

Accomplishment of the contest tasks was evaluated by a 100-score system. Some of the applicants could not pass the primary stage and, gaining low scores, did not win any place; others could gain more than 90 scores and be allowed for the next competition stage. 

At the end of the contest Mr.Muhammad Morsi, Egyptian President, invited competitors to his resident house for iftar, where he handed the prizes to ones who had taken the first and the second place in each nomination, and spoke before the participants.

Suleyman is satisfied with the result he gained, but he is not intended to stop at what has been accomplished: “I cannot say that one needs to be an extraordinary one to win the top place. This chance is available with everyone, but it requires much self-development effort, diligence and self-confidence. In addition to this, participation in such higher level contests needs practices and experiences of competing with stronger rivals”.

reporter.