MINNEAPOLIS — An American Muslim student from South Minneapolis has won the world’s largest and most prestigious Qur’an memorization competition.

“All Minnesotans should be proud of the accomplishments of Burhan, who represented our state and our nation at this International Quran Competition,” said Jaylani Hussein, Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), Asian American Press reported.

Ahmad Burhan from the Abubakar Mosque in South Minneapolis faced competition from 103 other students at the June 5 event in Dubai.

The first prize award came with check valued at $68,000. Burhan also won 2017 US National Qur’an competition.

The 16-year-old from New Brighton is the first American to take top honors in the Dubai International Holy Qur’an competition.

Hussein stressed that Burhan isn’t the only American Muslim student to excel in Qur’an.

Many other Minnesota Muslim teens have also performed brilliantly in Qur’an competitions across the world and in the US national competitions, he added.

The Qur’an is a revelation from God, the creator of the worlds, so He is the original author.

There is only one Qur’an which is in Arabic and many translations of the Qur’an in several languages.

There could be multiple translations by different authors in the same language such as English.

The Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the archangel Gabriel who used to make the Prophet memorize it, and helped him revise it every year in the month of Ramadan, the fasting month.

Memorizing the Holy Qur’an is one of the most important ways to preserve Allah’s message.

The others are to publish and distribute the book, or the text on the Internet and to recite the parts that one knows to other people.