RIYADH — Two Turkish muezzins, Muhsin Kara and Albijan Celik, won top places in the international competition of the Holy Qur’an recitation and the call to prayer, Otr Elkalam (Scent of Speech), the unique competition that brought together the most talented muezzins from all over the world.

The Turkish contestants overcame strong rivalries to win the first and second prizes for the most beautiful voices in delivering the call to prayer.

This success contributed to the realization of Kara's dream of being able to record his call to prayer on the radio in many maqams and achieve wide popularity. On the other hand, Celik has already started planning to restore the mosque of his grandfather's village in Macedonia.

Kara joined the competition via the Internet, where the General Entertainment Authority, which organizes and supervises the competition, facilitated the method of participation.

After an exceptional performance in the final qualifiers, Kara succeeded in winning first place in the call to prayer category, receiving a prize of SR2 million ($533,200).

The winner of the second prize amounting to SR1 million ($266,600), Celik does not speak Arabic, yet he managed to impress the jury with his sweet voice, which touched the hearts of the multinational viewers of Otr Elkalam show.

Kara began his journey with the call to prayer at the age of eight. He had immense love for the great Companion Bilal Al-Habashi, who was the muezzin of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), He went through many beautiful experiences. He delivered the call to prayer in a number of large mosques in Germany, Iran and Turkey, and he hopes that the competition will open the doors of fame for him to deliver the call to prayer everywhere.

Celik, who is of Macedonian origin, learned the Holy Qur’an and the call to prayer at an early age from a teacher who discovered his talent. From the very beginning of the qualifying rounds in Turkey, he was hoping to win the competition.

As for his mastery of the call to prayer and the Holy Qur’an without knowing Arabic, he said that "man is powerless and the Holy Qur’an is miraculous." — SG