The contest is divided into two stages: elimination rounds and  finals. This year, the finals will take place in Crocus City Hall in Moscow on September 20. The contest will be attended by Qur’anic reciters fr om 35 countries. They will compete in two categories: tilawa (beautiful reading) and hifz (recitation of the Holy Qur’an by heart). Russia will be represented at the competition by Vahit Askhabov from the Chechen Republic and Magomed Aligadzhiev from the Republic of Dagestan.

The honourable guest of this year’s competition is famous qarii Saad al-Ghamdi.

Sheikh al-Ghamdi was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in 1968. He became hafiz in 1990 and started organizing hafiz classes. He also has a degree of Shari’a University in Usul ad-Din (basics of faith) and an ijasa on isnad (right to transfer ahadith).

Saad al-Ghamdi currently serves as an Imam of Kanu Mosque in Dammam, after having returned from the West wh ere he served as an imam in Austrian, British and American mosques. During the Ramadan of 2009 he visited Russia to head a tarawih prayer in Moscow Jum’ah Mosque.

For the last fifteen years, Russia Muftis Council has been bringing together best Qur'anic reciters. Every year, contenders from more than 30 countries of the East and the West take part in the competition, sharing their exceptional skills with the Russian audience.

The contest is supported by the government, specifically by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation, and the government of Moscow. In 2010, the contest was included into the list of events organized under the aegis of UNESCO.