Abdul Wahab Dai
Reporter
WAJO-Five venues in Wajo, South Sulawesi, Indonesia to host a first worldwide competition ever on classical Islamic text reading (Musbaqah Qira'atil Kutub Internasional I) as well as the VIIIth National Contest on Classical Islamic Text Reading (October the 1-7, 2025).
Thousand of participants will gathered in Sengkang, a town (well-known as Silk Town) near the prehistoric lake Tempe Lake. They are pupils and students of Islamic boarding schools from Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, the Phillippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor Leste, as well as Indonesia --the country host--).
Macanang As'adiyah Islamic Boarding School, Lapongkoda As'adiyah Islamic Boarding School, Ma'had Aly As'adiyah Sengkang Campus, Sengkang Merdeka Square, and Sengkang's Ummul Quraa Grand Mosque are five venues where the competition will be held.
For the nationwide contest of MQKN VIII, the participants will come from across the country. MQKI I and MQKN VIII to be held by Indonesian Ministry of Religiius Affairs in coordinating with local committee.
They will compete on Understanding (Fahm), Translation (Tarjamah), and Grammatical Analyse (I'rab) concerning the unvoweld Arabic text, the so-called 'kitab gundul' or 'kitab kuning'.
Bungosa becomes the mascot of the competition based on Tank goby (also known as bar-eyed goby). It is one of endemic fish (Bungo in Buginese) in Tempe Lake. Bungosa derived from Bungo and Asa (Hope in English).
This Olympic Classical Islamic Text Reading would also perform a gathering of thousands of Islamic boarding school scouts that will be united in Macanang for a camping.
Andikha Saputra, a liaison officer, told this media by phone this weekend that the global event is ready to be held. MQKI I has the theme "From the Islamic boarding school to the world".
Photos: Andhika Saputra and Abdul Wahab Dai
