UAE | Heritage and Culture
Young achievers shine in Quran contest
Young contestants from non-Muslim countries said they passionately dedicated years of their childhood travelling to Muslim countries with their parents to learn the Quran.
- By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:52 September 16, 2008
- Image Credit: Siham Al Najami/Gulf News
- Bulgarian Ayhan Onbashi with his father in Dubai. The Muslim population in Bulgaria is around 27 per cent.
Dubai: Young contestants from non-Muslim countries said they passionately dedicated years of their childhood travelling to Muslim countries with their parents to learn the Quran.
Bulgarian national Ayhan Onbashi is among the youngest participants for this year's Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) held at the Cultural and Scientific Association at Al Mamzar.
Despite the dominant position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgarian cultural life, a number of Bulgarian citizens belong to other religious denominations, most notably Islam, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. According to Ayhan's father, the Muslim population accounts to around 27 per cent.
Islam came to Bulgaria at the end of the 14th century after its conquest by the Ottoman Turks.
Ayhan travelled with his parents and younger brother to Saudi Arabia to study in Islamic schools and to learn the Quran and its language, Arabic.
The father studied at the Islamic university in Madinah while his eldest son, Ayhan, was engaged in memorising the Quran at the age of six, which he completed in three years. Last year the Onbashi family returned to Bulgaria with the father becoming an imam in one of the mosques.
Twenty-year old Australian Abdul Rahman Mawar, originally from Indonesia, born in Melbourne, spent 11 years with his family studying Islamic studies and the Quran sciences in Karachi, Pakistan.
His mother was adamant that all her five children memorise the Quran.
He is now back in Melbourne for his high school studies but he still wakes up early, reciting the Quran for two hours before heading for school.
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