Madinah, 24 Muharram 1440 H corresponding to 04 October 2018 SPA -- The preliminary qualifications for King Abdulaziz International Competition for the Holy Quran Memorization, Recitation and Interpretation in its 40th session started yesterday evening in Madinah. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance received 115 contestants representing 82 countries, competing in four branches. The first section is the memorization of the entire Holy Quran with recitation and interpretation of vocabulary. The second section is the memorization of the entire Quran with recitation. The third section is the memorization of 15 consecutive sections with recitation. Section 4 is the memorization of five consecutive sections and recitation, this section is special for candidates of Muslim minority countries. The preliminary qualifications aim at motivating participants to control memorization, mastery of recitation and good performance, raise the level of competition, and those who pass the first stage by 80% will be qualified for the final competition at the Prophet's Holy Mosque before an international jury. -- SPA 11:53 LOCAL TIME 08:53 GMT 0004 www.spa.gov.sa/w760513