Iranian Memorizer Says Detailed Planning, Regular Practice Helped Him Win Int’l Quran Contest
In an interview with IQNA, Sina Tabbakhi said that after coming first in Croatia’s international Quran competition in 2021, his main objective was winning the top prize in Iran’s prestigious Quranic event.
“Thank God, I managed to achieve it with careful planning and rigorous practice and reviewing (the memorized verses),” he said.
The memorizer noted that over the past year, especially in the past six months, he had been practicing to be prepared for the competition.
“I have done maybe some 40 Khatm Quran (reading the Holy Book from the beginning to the end) over the last six months,” he said. “And in the past 10 days, I read at least seven Juzes (parts) parts of the Quran.”
Asked about his rivals in the contest, Tabbakhi said he tried to listen to all performances and that the level of the contenders was high.
A reason for that was that the competition was organized in two stages, with only those with higher level of skills being able to make it to the finals, he stated.
He added that the performance of the memorizer from Bangladesh was very spiritual while the representatives of Gambia and Kenya also had a very good performance.
As for his Quranic journey, Tabbakhi said he was a Quran reciter first and attended Quranic circles in mosques and elsewhere as a qari.
After a while he learned about his talents in memorizing the Quran and that is why he signed up for a memorization course and started learning the Holy Quran by heart.
It took him 2 years to commit the entire Holy Book to memory.
The 22-year-old memorizer has a BA and is going to continue his studies in the field of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and law.
He said he plans to teach the Quran and train memorizers who both act upon the Holy Book’s teachings and are successful in competitions.
He is also going to enter the field of judgment in Quran competitions in a few years.
The final round of Iran’s 39th International Holy Quran Competition kicked off here in Tehran last Saturday and concluded in a ceremony on Wednesday evening, where winners of different categories were named and awarded.
This edition of the international Quranic event was held in two stages, with the first round having been attended by 150 contenders from 80 countries.
From among them, 52 qaris and memorizers from 33 countries made it to the final round.
The motto of this year’s competition was “One Book, One Ummah”.
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