A brand new competition called Etr El-Kalam (the essence of words) will debut for Ramadan 2022. The show is the first of its kind in the world, and it will air on the first day of Ramadan on the national Saudi TV channel under the General Entertainment Authority (GEA)’s supervision and organisation.
Etr El-Kalam is one of the first competitions of its kind: it fuses beautiful Qur’anic recitation and the call to prayer (adhan) together. The competition was open to people around the world, and applications were able to be submitted virtually. There have been nearly 40,000 applicants from 80 countries, and just 36 have made it to the last round. There will be two separate competitions for each of the categories: Qur’an recitation and call to prayer.
The main aim of the competition show is to highlight and showcase delightful recitations of the Holy Quran and the calls of prayer by beautiful voices all over the world.
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And there are prizes. In fact, the prize money totals SAR12 million. For the Etr El-Kalam recitation contest, the first place winner will be awarded SAR5 million, second will get SAR2 million, and SAR1 million will go to the third-place winner, while the fourth-place winner will receive SAR500,000.
As for the Etr El-Kalam Adhan (call to prayer) competition, the first place winner will be going home with SAR2 million, the second-place winner will be receiving SAR1 million, and SAR500,000 will be awarded to the third-place winner, while the fourth-place winner will get SAR250,000.
The winners will be decided by a judging panel will include muezzins (men who call upon Muslims for prayer) from the Two Holy Mosques, the world’s top reciters and some of the most notable judges for similar international competitions.
Let’s see who impresses the judges the most, Riyadh.
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