Allowance to be given to children who memorize more than 3 ajza of Quran per month

Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has announced that from next year onwards, an allowance will be given to students who participate in the Quran Memorization Program and memorize over 3 ajza of the Quran every month.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 36th National Quran Competition, Shameem said that providing a pocket money to children who memorize the Quran is an initiative he began during his earlier tenure as Islamic Minister.

Although this has since been discontinued, Shaheem said that allowance will be granted commencing from next year to students who memorize over 3 ajza of the Quran per month.

Even at present, the government grants an allowance to those who have completed memorizing the Quran and attained the rank of Hafiz.

The government has also decided that it will send children who have memorized the Quran to Mecca for Umrah pilgrimage.

The Centre for Quran was earlier operated in a building located near Majeedhiya School. However, with the building falling to a state of disrepair, the centre has been relocated to the King Salman Mosque.

Shaheem stated that although the mosque is a grand place, it is not the ideal location to run the centre in. He cited the increase in number of students, and low availability of class spaces as a reason. Shaheem said that seeing the current centre, it is evident that a separate building is needed for operation of the centre.

"God willing, we will discuss with the President about establishing a separate Centre for Quran in the Maldives. I give you my word that during this administration, we will work to establish a dedicated building for the Centre for Quran," Shaheem said.

Earlier, the National Quran Competition was held for school students. Participants need to join school level competitions, qualify for atoll level competitions and get good results in them. Changes were later brought to this, and these conditions were lifted.

Over 1000 students from schools and institutions participated in this year's competition. Minister said that to hold up the standard of the competition, the number of participants will need to be decreased.