Grand ceremony marks essay contest prize distribution; Ilyas Nadvi grace the function

Muscat - 18 Sep 2011: A grand ceremony was held to felicitate the winners of essay contest which was held in the months of June-August under the topic, 'Prophet Mohammed - Messenger of peace'. Moulana Ilyas Nadvi from Bhatkal graced the occasion as a special guest to honour the winners and delivered alecture in Arabic-Urdu on the occasion. Held on Thursday at the grand lecture hall ofthe beautifulSultan Qaboos grand mosque in Muscat and organised byThe Sultan Qaboos Centre for Islamic Culture,Diwan of Royal Court, the ceremony started with qiraat by Abdulrahman bin Abdulla bin Saleh Alshaqsy. The event was presided over by Sheikh Khalfan Al Esry, Oman's most prominent scholar and graced by two prominent speakers -Moualna Mohammed Ilyas Nadvi and Dr Ramchandra Narayan.

The event was divided into two parts. The lecturepart began at 5pm.Keynote speakerMoulana Mohamed Ilyas Nadvi, who has been conducting essay contests on Prophet's message of peace worldwide,congratulated the Sultan Qaboos Centre for Islamic Culture,Diwan of Royal Court for conducting the essay contest and organising the event. He said Oman should take a lead in organising a similar exercise on an international scale so that non-Muslims from all over the world get an opportunity to learn about Prophet's message of peace. He said Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) is a messenger for all mankind and not just for Muslims. He thanked Aftab Kola for initiating and implementing the idea through the Diwan of Royal Court, Oman. Dr Narayan Ramachandran, Consultant & Head of Orthopedics& Trauma with the Armed Forces Hospital, Royal Army of Oman, said Prophet was beacon of light for all the humanity. Dr Narayan saidthe role played by the Prophet in spreading the message of peace is unparalleled in history.

The second partwas the prize distribution for the already held essay contest on 'Prophet- messenger of peace.' More than 350 entries under four categories (Muslims under 16/Muslims above 16 and Non-Muslims below 16/Non-Muslims above 16) were received and a panel of eleven judges assessed the essays. Winners were felicitated on the occasion and a cash prize of RO400, RO200 and RO100 were given away to first, second and third prize resp. Two consolation prizes in each category were also given. Aftab Kola, convenor of the essay contest and the event, announced the winners. Shaikh Khalfan, presiding over the function, said such contest should be taken to the next step and advised the non-Muslims to study further what they have studiedfor writing the essays. Earlier Yusuf Nalwala welcomed. Hatim Bin Harith Bin Saif Al Abdussalam and Said Al Muferji compered the programme while prizes to the winners were distributed by Shaikh Khalfan, Moulana Mohammed Ilyas, Shaikh Hilal Nasser Hamood Al Mamari and Owais Usmani.

The hall was over-crowded. The function was attended by a number of Diwan officials. Shaikh Khalfan presented a memento to Moulana Ilyas and Dr Narayan for their wonderful speeches. Shaikh Zaher Alawi was present on the occasion andHamadSalim Aldhahry proposed a vote of thanks.

BOX winners:

Non Muslims Above 16:

• 1stprize: Dr Rajan Phillips
• 2ndprize: Gladys Mathews
• 3rdprize: Mahesh Seth

Consolation prizes:

• Sunil D'Cruz
• Ms Vaishali Verma

Non-Muslims Below 16:

• 1stprize: Venkat Sarkar
• 2ndprize: Raka Ghosh Dastidar
• 3rdprize: Arun Alvin Phillips

Consolation prizes:

• Feba Sarah Saji
• Gayatri Shankar

Muslims Above 16:

• 1stprize: Mohammed Shahab Alam
• 2ndprize: Abdul Kabeer
• 3rdprize: Ms Zainab Soliman Shebani

Consolation prizes:

• Mohammed Nafie
• Ziaulhye Mirza Muhammed

Muslims Below 16:

• 1stprize: Zulqarnain Ahmed
• 2ndPrize: Hiba Mehvish
• 3rdPrize: Mohammed Husain

Consolation Prizes:

• Hiba Fasly
• Safia Iqbal

Bhatkallys News Service / Aftab H. Kola from Muscat