Director of the General Department of Endowments Dr. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ghanem Al Thani (right), and Head of the Islamic Education Guidance Section, MoEHE, Nasser Al Marri addressing a press conference yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: To instil love of the Prophet (PBUH), the General Department of Endowments, Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, has launched 10th ‘Al Muhaddith Al Saghir’ Competition 2024 for memorising hadith for students of all government and private schools and their parents.
The announcement was made at a press conference held at the headquarters of the department yesterday.
Addressing the press conference, Director of the General Department of Endowments Dr. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ghanem Al Thani said the registration for competition will open on February 1 and continue until February 29, 2024, through the ministry's website.
Head of the Islamic Education Guidance Section at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) Nasser Al Marri and Director of Umm Al Qura Primary School for Boys, Khamis Al Muhannadi also attended the press conference.
Dr. Sheikh Khalid said the competition for parents will be held on March 16, 2024. Male students will contest on March 31 while female candidates will compete on April 1, 2024. He said the previous competition, Al Muhaddith Al Saghir 2023, attracted 6,705 contestants including students and parents.
“The competition comes within the projects of the Endowment Fund to serve Holy Quran and the Sunnah, as a continuation of the Quran memorising competitions held throughout Qatar, said Dr. Sheikh Khalid. He said participants and winners will get valuable cash prizes.
“Top three winners from male and female contestants will each receive QR6,000, QR5,000 and QR4,000 respectively,” he said.
Hadith is a collection of traditions containing sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which, with accounts of his daily practice (the Sunna), constitute the major source of guidance for Muslims apart from holy Quran.
Candidate students —boys and girls — will compete in five categories. The candidates from level 1 to 3 will compete in memorising first 20, 30 and 40 hadiths from Al Nawawi’s Forty Hadith respectively with the narrator and Takhrij Al Hadith.
In the fourth level, the candidates will compete in memorising from Al Nawawi’s Forty Hadith with Imam Ibn Rajab’s additions, narrator and Takhrij Al Hadith.
Fifth level (Elite) is about memorising Kitab Al Jami’ from the book “Bulugh Al Maram Min Adillat Al Ahkam” by Imam Ibn Hajar Al Asqalani with the narrator and Takhrij Al Hadith.
Parents will compete in memorising 50 hadith from Al Nawawi’s Forty Hadith with Imam Ibn Rajab’s additions in level 1 of the category. This category is not for those working with the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs as Imams or teachers of Sharia science in schools. All parents can compete in level 2 in which the candidates will memorise Kitab Al Jami’ from the book “Bulugh Al Maram Min Adillat Al Ahkam” by Imam Ibn Hajar Al Asqalani with the narrator and Takhrij Al Hadith. The category of male and female students obtaining the highest scores will be held in a public competition, and three male and three female students will be honoured with competition shields.
Al Marri lauded the efforts by General Department of Endowments for organising the competition, and the constructive cooperation between the two ministries to spread values among students. As per the conditions for participation, students must be enrolled at any school in Qatar, governmental or private, for the three stages.
Each school can participate with a maximum of 17 students. Any student can apply to any category level in which he wishes to participate without being restricted by school grade.
In parents category, the participant must be a guardian of a student enrolled at any school in Qatar, whether government or private, for the three stages at a rate of 15 candidates from a school.
