MinbarLive at the 32nd International Qur’an Recitation Competition in Zagreb: Real-Time Recitation and Translation Tracking

In recent days, the 32nd International Qur’an Recitation Competition was held at the Islamic Centre Zagreb, also marking the 39th anniversary of the ceremonial opening of the Zagreb Mosque.

This is a traditional international event that connects Zagreb every year with Qur’an reciters from different parts of the world. This year, around 50 contestants took part, in the categories of tilawah, 15 juz’ and hifz.

For MinbarLive, this competition was a special experience. We had the opportunity to take part in its program and technical delivery through the use of our system for real-time Qur’an recitation recognition.

The Qur’anic text and translation followed the reciter

During the competition, MinbarLive tracked the contestants’ recitation, automatically recognized the part of the Qur’an currently being recited, and displayed the corresponding Arabic verse text and its translation to visitors.

It was especially important to us that the technology did not distract from the recitation itself. The idea is exactly the opposite: to help the listener follow more easily what they are already hearing.

Each visitor could independently choose the language in which they wanted to follow the meaning of the Qur’an, from more than 40 languages for which official translations are available in the system.

That means the same performance, at the same moment, can be accessible to people from different language backgrounds — without the organizer needing to choose a single common translation language in advance.

Recognition in just a few seconds

One of the most demanding parts of such a system is speed.

With regular speech, the system can follow a continuous sequence of words. With Qur’an recitation, it is additionally necessary to understand where the reciter currently is within the Qur’anic text, identify the verse, and maintain synchronization even when reciters have different pacing, recitation styles, and performance approaches.

During the competition, recognition happened within just a few seconds. The system enabled near real-time word-level tracking, while tracking and synchronization at the verse level proved very reliable in practical use.

On the screen, it was therefore possible to follow the Arabic text currently being recited, the position within the verse, and the selected translation.

When technology serves understanding the Qur’an

This kind of Qur’an competition tracking is still very rare.

Automatic recognition of Qur’an recitation itself is a demanding technical problem. When you add near-instant verse identification, text tracking, and simultaneous availability of translations in dozens of languages, you get something that until recently was hard to imagine in a real-world setting and in front of an audience.

That is why we see this experience primarily as one of the pioneering examples of how modern technology can be used to make access to and understanding of the Qur’an easier.

And we are especially glad that such an example was realized right here in Zagreb.

For almost four decades, the Islamic Centre Zagreb has been a venue for numerous international meetings, programs, and initiatives. This year’s competition showed that this space can also be a place where traditional content and new technologies meet in a natural and meaningful way.

An experience that will support further development

For MinbarLive, working on the competition was much more than a technical demonstration.

Working in real conditions, with a large number of reciters from different countries, with different qira’at and performance characteristics, and a multi-hour program, gave us valuable experience for the further development of Quran Mode and the way users can follow the Qur’an live.

The goal remains simple: the technology should be almost unnoticeable, while enabling the listener to connect as easily as possible with the text being recited at that moment.

We are grateful to the organizers of the 32nd International Qur’an Recitation Competition and the Islamic Centre Zagreb for the opportunity for MinbarLive to be part of this year’s program.

For us, it was especially meaningful to see the technology we are building used exactly where it finds its true purpose — while the Qur’an is being recited live, and people can simultaneously follow its text and understand its meaning in their own language.