It’s a feeling of fulfilment mixed with jubilation for Sajid Mohammed as he emerged the 1st position in the 2024 Guided Hearts Academy Qur’an competition.
Sajid Ibrahim Mohammed has been participating in the annual Qur’an competition for the past 3 years but he has never won. He participated in the 2021 Qur’an competition when he was 6yr old and qualified for the final round but didn’t make it to the top 3. He made a giant stride and appeared again in 2022 but his co-contestants claimed all trophies . He didn’t make it beyond the preliminaries in the year 2023.
Determined to win this time, the youngest contestant kept his nose to the grindstone through the competition preliminaries and made a comeback into the final competition.
Guided Hearts Academy 2024 Qur’an competition started off with more than 100 attendees that include the creative director of the great citadel of learning; Alh Mrs Monsurah Popoola, the learning manager, Hajia Idayat Olatunji, the admin coordinator, the admin assistant, the panel of judges, the 10 contenders, teachers, the pupils, the parents, family members and well-wishers of the contestants.
At exactly 02:00pm WAT, the learning manager opened the event with the opening prayer. A soul-soothing Qur’an recitation session was held by two pupils in the advanced class, Teqiyullahi Are and Ameenah Balogun, then the director addressed the attendees for about five minutes.
Sensations and glitters of cheers and encouragement were poured out by their well wishers, parents and teachers into the chatroom as each contestant took their turn for the 10 minutes questioning by the questioners. Between 02:30pm and 03:40pm WAT, six contestants have been questioned. An interesting session of interlude (Can you recite Suratul Fatiha accurately?) was held for young attendees between the age 4-8yrs and the audience enjoyed an amazing recitations from the kids. Two young scholars; Mazeedah Mustapha and Rayhan Adeyemo took the lead for the interlude with a very fluent and accurate recitation of Suratul Fatiha.
THE CONTESTANTS
1. Sajid Mohammed
2. Rahma Akindele
3. Fareed Adeniyi
4. Amal Adeyemo
5. Jamal Jimoh
6. Balqis Salaudeen
7. Aisha ShinAba
8. Fathia Kareem
9. Zahira Arolambo
10. Fahizah Danmole
After a 20 minutes Solat break, the 4 remaining contestants were questioned and praises filled the chat room once again. Another interlude for attendees aged 9yrs and above was held and two intelligent scholars; Aliyah Popoola and AbdulMajeed Oladipupo emerged the winners of this session. A superb session of Qur’an galore was also held for the teachers and the entire audience were entertained with blissful and soul-uplifting recitations, imitating various contemporary reciters with their unique and melodious voices.
With a brilliant point of 94.3, 9yr old Sajid Mohammed emerged 1st, 14yr old Rahma Akindele came 2nd with 90.8 points while 10yr old Fareed Adeniyi took the 3rd position with 89 points. In his speech after the announcement of the winners, Mohammed expressed his excitement and encouraged his friends and fellow pupils to give their best in everything they do and never relent, so they can someday be a winner too.
Mu’allimah Fatimah Adebanjo, one of the anchors, wrapped it up with the vote of thanks and closing prayer and the event came to an end at 06:16pm WAT.
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