Qirat, calligraphy, naat, contests held at AIOU

Islamabad: Forty-four regional offices of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) across the country have completed first-phase of Qirat, Naat, calligraphy, speeches and postal completions among the local students.

In the second phase, the competitions will be held at seven provincial and regional headquarters, Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Gilgit and Islamabad.

Later, the winners will be invited to Islamabad for the final competitions, to be held at the university’s main Campus. “We received overwhelming response from the students taking part in this extra-curricular activity, that was aimed at promoting natural talents of the students, said Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui,

The activity was arranged during Ramazan so as to promote the message of the Holy Month and to motivate the young generation to follow ‘Quran and Sunnah’ in their practical life. This was also for the purpose of promoting positive-attitude and their character-building, he added.

According to the Director Regional Services Dr. Mian Arif Saleem Arif, the winners of the competitions will be awarded cash prizes and special shields for their encouragement. He hoped that final competitions would be held here by the end of July.

Besides, arranging such activities, earlier the AIOU held ‘Welcome Ramazan’ seminar to underline the important role of social and educational institutions in motivating the people to bring into practice the true spirit of fasting in their day-to-day life.

Those who had addressed the seminar included Minister of State for religious affairs Pir Muhammad Aminul Hasnat Shah, eminent religious scholar Dr. Habib Rehman Asim, Senator Naeema Kishwar, renowned columnist Khurshid Anwar and the University’s Dean of Islamic Studies Dr. Shah Mohyuddin Hashmi. A university’s research journal on ‘Seerat studies’ was also launched on the occasion.