Thirteen-year-old Abdulrahman Hassan Daud has won the second edition of the Nyanza regional Quran competition held in Kisumu.
The competition attracted over 500 participants drawn from different Madrassas within Kisumu county.
Daud, a pupil at Ubayyd Ibn Kaab, beat 20 other finalists to emerge victorious in the memorisation of the holy book.
The annual event, which was organised by Hass Charitable Trust, is meant to promote the reading of Quran among children below 15 years.
Among the rules of the competition is that every participant recites at least five different chapters from the holy Quran.
The judges randomly picked verses and chapters from the Quran for the competitors to continue reciting the missing words.
The winner received Sh30,000 and a certificate for participation.
According to Abdi Jamaa, Trust's regional coordinator, they intend to instill discipline among the young children through the memorisation of the holy book during the month.
He said they are targeting children aged between 8 and 15 years.
Jamaa said the regional competition will be followed by a national one next year.
He said they had already put in place plans to hold the event nationally by registering competitors from all 47 counties.
"We call upon all Madrassa teachers to prepare the children in advance for a major competition next year that will include more participants from different parts of the country," he said.
Jamaa added that the competition requires that one must read day and night because it was not easy to memorise all the 144 suras (chapters) of the holy book.
