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By Nafissa Assed.
Tripoli, 12 August:
A 21-year old Libyan has won the Dubai . . .[restrict]International Holy Quaran competition. Khaled Mohammed Salem Al-Guendoz, from Misrata, beat off competitors on Thursday to secure first prize in a contest of the most beautiful voice.
Al-Guendoz raised the Libyan flag for the first time in the history of the competition since its inception in 1997, under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The competition is created to honour outstanding Quran readers and the prizes of this contest are considered as the largest in the world given to Quranic competition.
First prize is an award of 250,000 Emirati dirhams (85,000 dinars), second prize is 200,000 dirhams (68,000 dinars) and third prize 150,000 dirhams (51,000 dinars)
According to different newspaper reports, Khalid says that he started reading and learning by heart the Holy Quran at the age of ten, and he completed it all at the age of twelve. [/restrict]
