On Sunday morning, the 25th of Rabi Ath-Thani 1436 AH corresponding to the 15th of February 2015, at the hall of Imam Al-Hassan (peace be upon him) for the conferences and seminars at the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, was held the closing ceremony of the first national Quranic competition for the graduates of the national project sessions to prepare readers in Iraq, which was established by the Holy Quran Institute at the holy shrine, with the participation of 200 contestants from most of Iraq's provinces.
The ceremony, which started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, was attended by distinct personalities from within Iraq and beyond, along with representatives of the Secretariat of the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine. The audience stood up for the moment of reading the "Fatiha" in memory of the martyrs of Iraq who have fallen in defence of the land of Iraq and its holy sites.
Followed by the word of the General Secretariat of the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine delivered by the Head of the Department of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Salah Al-Karbalai, stating: "We salute the blessed presence, the servants of the Holy Quran, the righteous ones who follow the path of Ahl Al-Bayt (peace be upon them), not those who just repeat its words without following the righteous path of the infallible."
Adding: " Our meeting represents the real service of the Holy Quran, by teaching its rules through belonging to our Imam Aba Abdillah As-Sadeq (peace be upon him), who has spread the Quranic culture of the school of Ahl Al-Bayt (peace be upon them). The Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine through its Holy Quran Institute presented to us the national Quranic project to prepare readers, which is one of the few projects adopting the teaching of the recitation of Quran and the study of its rules, in order to form readers that will turn to their home provinces to open themselves Quran session under the auspices of the holy shrine, to let the good tree of the Holy Quran grows."
Followed by the word of the Director of the Holy Quran Institute at the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, Sheikh Jawad Al-Nasrawi, in which he stated: "We are gathered here today at the Holy and blessed shrine of the Master Aba Al-Fadl Al-Abbas (peace be upon him) to assist to the closing ceremony of this blessed event, which is part of the project of preparing readers, launched by the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, and which passed through many phases, the first phase was to establish specialized sessions for the readers of all the provinces in the holy city of Karbala. So, we have held for nine provinces 17 sessions in Karbala, in which more than 200 readers have participated, each session included 15 students for (7-10) days during which they have received intensive lessons in terms of recitation, voice and tune. The second phase was the national competition for the graduates of these sessions, held during these days, and at the closing ceremony we will announce the names of the first winners, who will be themselves the nucleus to complete this project in the provinces InshaAllah, to discover new Quranic talents."
At the end of his word, Sheikh Al-Nasrawi paid a tribute to the martyrs who have quenched with their pure blood the land of this country, which counts on all its sons in the battlefields to liberate the occupied lands by the terrorists, praying the Almighty to give courage and patience to our security forces and to bless the wounded with a speedy recovery."
Then a documentary film about this Quranic project was displayed, presenting the most important activities of the Holy Quran Institute. Then a number of Quranic psalms and poems expressing the love of Ahl Al-Bayt (peace be upon them) were presented by the Chanting band of the Imam Al-Hussayn's (p) holy shrine.
The closing ceremony was concluded by "Salawat" and reciting Dua Al-Faraj, then honouring the members of the jury and the winners, which the organizing committee of the competition decided to award eight of them in stead of five, as follows:
1- Ali Jawad Hussayn from Baghdad province.
2- Faysal Matar Ba'noon from Dhi Qar province.
3-Mohammed Shahid from Diwaniyah province.
4- Fallah Zulayf Atiyah from Al-Muthanna province.
5- Ali Ahmed Falahi from Baghdad province.
6- Ishaac Kadhem from Dhi Qar province.
7- Ahmed Abbas Faraj from Baghdad province.
8- Mohammed Zulayf Atiyah from Al-Muthanna province.