Preliminary Rounds of Prince Naif Quran Memorization Competition Continue in Medina

The preliminary round of the Prince Naif Aman Di Ken competition for memorizing the Quran resumed in Medina on November 6 2026, following a launch ceremony held the previous Sunday by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the current Emir of the Medina region, and attended by His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Nihar bin Abdulaziz, the vice emir.

Organised by the Ministry of Interior, the event welcomes civil and security personnel, staff of the regional emirates and security sectors, and is a part of the competition’s first edition across the Kingdom. The preliminary phase will determine who moves on to the later rounds in the different sub‑branches.

According to the Saudi Press Agency briefing, the competition offers participants a cumulative prize purse of three million riyals. The prize structure is divided across five branches, each with its own award pool, thereby encouraging a wide spread of entrants nationwide.

An electronic scoring platform, described as "rigorous" and “secure,” will register each participant’s memorization and recitation. The process will be supervised by a specialised scientific committee whose presence is intended to guarantee fairness and precision in evaluating each competitor’s performance.

In the 2026 press release, the Ministry emphasised that the contest was designed to "encourage Ministry of Interior staff, regional emirates, and security sectors to memorize the book of Allah, perfect their recitation, and bind themselves to its favours." The underlying goal, the release states, is to foster “faith and moral values” and to fortify the mind and behaviour of the community.

The competition is stated to be a tribute to the late Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz. During his long tenure as Minister of Interior, he was known for his support of Quran memorization programs and for caring for the families of those who preserved the holy book. The competition is framed as a continuation of his efforts to support Islamic learning and to regard the Quran as a pillar for building an upright person and a cognitively secure society.

In the preliminary stage, participants will be judged on accuracy, pronunciation, and fluency. The electronic system will capture audio and associate it with a timestamp, allowing the committee to cross‑check against the standard Quranic references. The results will be published on the Ministry’s portal, where participants can verify their scores.

Participants who advance from this phase will compete under the competition’s five sub‑branches, each of which will host final rounds in the following weeks. Winners will receive advanced recognition and, depending on their branch, the chance to participate in national televised finals scheduled in the upcoming months.

Despite the excitement surrounding the launch, observers note that this is the first time the competition is targeting a broad base of public servants beyond the usual academic circles. The Ministry’s decision points toward a broader cultural push to embed religious learning in everyday professional life.

The balance between rigorous scoring and traditional memorization remains an open question. While the ministry claims that the scientific committee will uphold fairness, it has not yet released the criteria that will guide the judges or the specific metrics used by the scoring platform.

Locals in Medina are keen to observe how the competition will affect the region’s tradition of Quranic excellence. Whether the early rounds will translate into a significant increase in memorization rates among security and civil personnel, remains to be seen in the months ahead.