Al-Hikmah University Ilorin, on Tuesday, opened her second inter-university Qur'an Recitation and Memorisation Competition.

The event, which started with an opening ceremony and included the recitation and memorisation of the Holy Qur'an, took place at the university premises and had 12 universities competing. In his speech, the Chairman of the event, Imam Abdullahi Abdulhameed, said "the Holy Quran is the word of Allah undiluted to the prophet Muhammad (SAW).

"The message in the Holy Qur'an is universal, it transcends beyond age, gender and race. It guides the social and intellectual needs of man. "The memorisation and recitation of the Holy Qur'an is a continuous tradition that has been for centuries and one of its benefits include becoming the preferred of God, that is you become dear to God.''

He urged organisers of the event to make it a continuous one and provide incentives for participants as it was of huge spiritual benefits to them.

Ibrahim urged the contestants to go into the competition with a clean heart and called on the judges to judge with the fear of Allah.

He said "Al-Hikmah University, I must say, stands out in the promotion of Islamic tradition; we had about four sister university at the event when we first started but today, I am glad to announce that we have 12 universities in this competition.

"Seventeen universities were invited and 12 are present today. "The scope of this competition is to cover the whole country, and we hope to take it round the country, especially the Eastern part of Nigeria.

"The importance of the Qur'an cannot be overemphasized; it spells injunctions, instructions and values of the words of Allah, I therefore charge all of us to exemplify the beauty of the contents of the Holy Book.''

Present at the event were also the Visioner of NASFAT, Mr Abdullahi Alaya, the Amira of FOMWAN, Mrs Silifa Ishola, and the the secretary of the Kwara Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, among others.

The 12 universities participating in the competition are Kaduna State University, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nassarawa State University, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and Fountain University, Osogbo. Crescent University, Abeokuta, Kwara State University, Ilorin, University of Abuja, and Al-Hikmah University, the host. (NAN)