KUALA NERUS – Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) adopted a different approach in celebrating this year’s Ramadhan by organizing the Five-day Nonstop Quran Recitation programme.

According to Sultan Mahmud Islamic Centre Director Dr Riswadi Azmi, the programme was one of the efforts to encourage Quran recitation during Ramadhan that is also known as the month of the Holy Quran.  

“To make the programme more meaningful, we organized it in such a way that it was able to meet the requirements for entry into the Malaysia Book of Records as the longest nonstop Quran recitation. The programme was also a medium for  doing more good deeds to get the rewards promised by Allah SWT,” he said.   

He also added that the programme was divided into several categories of Quran reciters including school students, university students, senior citizens, the differently abled, new Muslim converts, and international students.

“Praise Be to Allah, the participation was overwhelming. We received more than 250 participants at the start of the programme. God Willing, we should be able to have 300 participants as we approach the end of the programme,” Dr Riswadi said.

Meanwhile, Fudhail Iyadh Salman, 8, participated in the programme as one of the reciters in the Children group.

“I’m very excited to join this programme after our teacher at school told us about it. My parents gave me their full support when I told them about my intention. I started learning to read the Quran from my mother when I was three.

I hope by joining this programme I will be more motivated to become a huffaz. If there are other programmes like this, I will certainly participate and read the Quran longer than the pages today,” said Fudhal, the eldest of four siblings.  

Muhd Yusuf Mohd Azam, 23, on the other  hand, decided to participate in the programme afer knowing about it from the Association of the Blind Muslims.

“I learned to read Braille at the age of eight at school. I was born blind. Now I know how to read the Quran in Braille. I want to prove to everyone that having some shortcomings shouldn’t prevent us from being close to Allah SWT,” he said.  

All the participants involved will receive tokens of appreciation from Sultan Mahmud Islamic Centre and certificates from the Malaysia Book of Records.

The Nonstop Quran Recitation programme is expected to end 22 May and will be closed by Dr. Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, Terengganu chief minister.

Published by:

Corporate Communication Centre

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu