Dubai: “Reading is as important to me as the air I breathe and the food I eat,” said seven year-old Mohammad Farah Jalood from Algeria when asked ‘Why do you read?’ by the judges.
Shortly after answering the question while standing on the stage among two other finalists at the Arab Reading Challenge award ceremony, Jalood was announced the winner of the competition’s first edition, with a prize of $150,000.
The second-grader, who travelled over 30 hours to attend the closing ceremony, told Gulf News he is very happy to have won the competition and is very grateful to his parents who encouraged him to read.
“I thank God for guiding me, my parents for encouraging me to read, and Shaikh Mohammad for holding this competition,” said Jalood as he held his father’s hand.
Reading 50 books for the competition, Jalood said his favourite book is an Arabic book called The Cave Man and the Stone Age.
“I want to be a religious scholar and study religion when I am older, just like Shaikh Mohammad Bin Ismail Al Bukhari,” he said.
Looking at his son with joy, Abdullah Jalood expressed his thanks to Shaikh Mohammad for the initiative, and giving children across the Arab world the opportunity to compete in a challenge that will broaden their knowledge.
“It’s a dream, it’s a dream,” said Jalood’s father when asked about his son’s accomplishment.
“Mohammad has always been so smart, and quick to understand and analyse books. He is quite active and has an imagination that he develops through reading. He’s also very much into karate,” said the proud dad.
Coming in at second place, nine year-old Roua Hamu from Jordan, said she read between 60 and 70 books for the challenge.
“I read more than 50 books, and I like reading because it fuels my imagination and improves my Arabic language,” she said.
When asked, if given the chance to publish a book, what it would be called and what would it be about, Hamu said, “The book would be called Behind the wall, it would be about the struggle of Palestinians and would reveal the truth about the situation in Palestine,” she said.
Hamu came in first place in Jordan out of 186,000 participants, while the third place winner of the competition, Wala Al Bakari from Bahrain, came in first among 17,000 students competing for the title in her home country.
Palestinian teacher Hanan Al Hroub, who was declared the winner of the 2016 $1 million Global Teacher Prize in March, attended the award ceremony as a judge.
Commenting on the initiative, she said: “Reading books expands children’s thinking, their ability and knowledge. When you read, you have knowledge, you are strong, and you can do more,” she said.
Al Hroub joined Abdullah Al Maglooth, Saudi writer and journalist, and Dr Sultan Al Umaimi, Emirati author and director of the Poetry Academy, on the judging panel.
“Reading opens the path to development and knowledge, and if this initiative continues, it will create an intellectual revolution,” said Al Hroub.
