TWO melodic readers from Maguindanao will represent the Philippines in the International Qur’an Reciters’ Assembly in Kuala Lumpur this month after they won a national competition in Quezon City on March 25.
The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos said Nuhman Pimbayabaya topped the qari or the male category of the contest, while Raihana Ambangala won the qaria or the female category of the 2018 National Qur’an Reading Competition.
Pimbayabaya, the 2017 defending champion who belongs to the Iranun tribe of Maguindanao, won over other male contestants with a scorecard of 96.46 percent.
Ambangala a 19-year-old student from Guindulungan, Maguindanao, recorded a winning rating of 96.6 percent. She also won the championship in the 2017 Southeast Asian Youth Qur’an Reading Contest hosted by Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah at the International Convention Center of Brunei Darussalam from Sept. 15 to 17 last year.
The annual International Qur’an Reciters’ Assembly will be held in Kuala Lumpur and tentatively in the first week of April. It was held last on April 7, 2017.
NCMF Commissioner Abdulhadi Daguit said while Ambangala will represent the Philippines’ qaria in the IQRA, third-placer Yusoph Pandita of the National Capital Region will likely represent the country’s qari, since the champion and the second placer will no longer be eligible to take part as a rule, having already participated three times in the Malaysian event
Qur’an reading is an art, a bridging education and a form of cultural diplomacy among Southeast Asian countries that started the international competition in 1961.
More than 1,000 people from the Muslim communities of Metro Manila attended the event held at the University of the Philippines Bahay ng Alumni in Diliman, Quezon City.
In this year’s national competition, the second place in the female group (Qaria) went to Jamila Saracan of Lanao del Norte while Monaifah Alawi of the Caraga Region emerged as third placer.
For the male bracket (Qari), Mohammad Nadhir Asgar Jr. of Lanao Sur emerged as second placer while Yusoph Pandita of NCR ended up in third place.
Guest speaker Chairman Sheriff Abas of the Commission on Elections cited the significance of the NQRC.
The Philippines was one of the first seven countries that formed and participated in the International Qur’an Reciters’ Assembly in 1961. Tunku Abdul Rahman, who would later become the the first Malaysian prime minister, organized the IQRA.
Seven countries”•Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sarawak and the erstwhile Malay Federation, the forerunner of Malaysia”•were represented by male and female contestants in the first competition held at the Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on March 9, 1961. In 1985 the competition was moved to the Putra World Trade Center.
Over the years the IQRA has expanded with the participation of Middle Eastern and African Countries, although Malaysia remains on top of the competition with its more frequent championship winnings in the 57-year history of the competition.
Other than Malaysia, the top level championships were occasionally won by Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, and at least twice by the Philippines.
In 2000 the Philippines’ Isnairah Bantayao of Lanao del Sur won the international championship trophy for the qaria or female category in the IQRA Competition.
This year, the national winners received trophies, certificates and cash prizes of P20,000 for the champion and P 15,000 each for the two second prize winners and P 10,000 for the two third prize winners.
Also in 2000, Bolkiah of Brunei formed a regional Qur’an reading competition, an IQRA version of sorts, for young Asian Muslims called the Southeast Asian Youth Al-Quran Reading Competition.
Last year, Ambangala also topped the qaria Category among nine female participants from Southeast Asia She received 5,000 Bruneian dollars, a certificate and a trophy from the Sultan.
Kamaruddin Zaidon, 24, from Sultan Kudarat, won the second price in the qari Category, nine other male contestants. He received 4,000 Bruneian dollars, a certificate and a trophy.