The Mohammed VI Foundation of African Ulemas concluded its proceedings in Fez on Saturday evening by celebrating 58 laureates of its various 2025 prizes and competitions.
The ceremony also paid tribute to four eminent scholars and researchers for their significant contributions across various scientific fields.
The celebration took place following the Foundation’s seventh annual ordinary session of the Higher Council, which convened in Fez from December 4 to 6. This meeting brought together approximately 300 members from 48 African countries, including 60 Alimate (female scholars), alongside 17 Moroccan Ulemas who are members of the Council.
Four distinguished scholars were specially recognized at the ceremony for their contributions to Islamic scholarship: Ousmane Diakite of Côte d’Ivoire, President of the Higher Council of Imams, Mosques, and Islamic Affairs of his country, won the grand prize in the category of Common Religious Principles. Sheikh Haji Ibrahim Toufa, President of the Higher Council of Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia, was honored in the category of memorization, recitation, and chanting of the Holy Quran. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nour Mohamed Al-Halou, Mufti of the Republic of Chad, was honored in the category of Prophetic Hadith. The distinguished scholar Abdoulkader Haidara from Mali received the honorary prize in the category of African Islamic manuscripts and documents.
The ceremony also celebrated the top three prize winners from the Foundation’s major competitions for 2025. In the competition for the memorization, recitation, and chanting of the Holy Quran: The first prize for complete memorization with recitation according to the Warsh ‘an Nafi’ reading was awarded to Sheikh Ibrahim Abderrahman of Ethiopia. Ichaq Khaireddine, also from Ethiopia, won first prize for complete memorization with recitation according to the different readings and variants. The first prize in the category of chanting with memorization of at least five hizbs went to Aboubakr Ahmed Toure of the Republic of Guinea.
The Foundation also honored the youngest participants, both boys and girls. The second edition of the competition on the Prophet’s Hadith saw winners in three distinct categories: Hiba Hansa from the Republic of Mauritius won first prize for memorizing forty hadiths with their chain of transmission and text. Ndyikuman Aboubakr from Burundi won first prize for memorizing 35 texts with mention of the last narrator in the chain. The first prize for memorizing twenty-five hadiths with an explanation of their legal benefits was won by Mohamed Sissi from the Republic of Mali.
In the manuscripts competition, the first prize in the category of Qur’anic manuscripts was awarded to Habiba Jalla from Mali. Adam Bolo of Nigeria won first prize for handwritten heritage books, while Sissi Mohamed Lamine of Mali won first prize for handwritten documents. The Republic of Mali was also notably recognized with the Distinguished Branches Award for its impressive participation, submitting nearly 724 manuscripts.
The second edition of the Prize in Common Religious Constants celebrated four winners across its key branches: Omar Niang of Senegal won first prize in the “Imarat al-Mouminine” (Commander of the Believers) branch. Researcher Rajae Mohamed Saleh of Sudan won first prize in the Ash’ari doctrine branch. Bobo Sissi of Mali won first prize in the school of jurisprudence (fiqh) branch. Researcher Mohamed Aliou of Kenya won first place in the Sunni Sufism branch.
AK/Sf/fss/abj/APA