On Sunday, the winners of the first edition of the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Scholars Hadith Competition were announced. The event took place in Fez from October 18 to 20, with participation from foundation branches across 48 African countries.
The competition's results highlighted Sudan's Tasneem Jumaa as the first prize winner in the category of memorizing forty hadiths, followed by Kenya's Suleiman Khamees Mwamukopa in second place, and Djibouti's Abdul Razak Moussa Jilah in third. In the memory of thirty hadith texts with comprehension, the winner was Kenya’s Abdul Qawi Farouk Ali, while Mali's Mohamed Bakri Drami took second place, and Uganda's Bashir Niyabali came third.
In the category of memorizing twenty hadiths concerning legal rulings, Ghana's Mohamed Kamal won first place, with Burundi's Abubakar Saleh and Angola's Aisha Moussa Sisi in second and third places respectively. A special encouragement award was also given to eight-year-old Abdul Haq Sid Dlamini from Eswatini and Hafsa Diallo from Cape Verde.
The Secretary-General of the foundation, Mohamed Rafiqi, praised the high level of participants, indicating that the competition strengthens and protects African identity, and fosters a proper religious understanding based on the prophetic tradition. He also commended the efforts of judges across the continent and emphasized the potential of participants to represent Africa internationally.
The event concluded with participants expressing gratitude for King Mohammed VI's support and praying for the deceased kings Hassan II and Mohammed V.
A total of 122 participants, including 20 women, competed via video conferencing, showcasing a robust representation from the African continent.
