He was named the “Islamic Personality of the Year” by the Holy Qur’an International Memorization Organization, an affiliate of the Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL).

This is the eighth year the organization has held the awards.

It gave prizes in 10 categoriess. Societies promoting Qur’an memorization; teachers; senior sheikhs; television programs, websites and magazines were among those honored.

Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki, the secretary-general of the MWL, said King Salman was given the award for setting up memorization schools for boys and girls under the Islamic Affairs Ministry, and allocating SR1.5 million every year for winners of local and international contests.

He said that King Salman also gave SR6 million for a distance learning project of the Holy Qur’an Memorization Society in Jeddah (Khairokom).

The project aims to establish an online platform to teach the Qur’an.

“Among other things, King Salman is the honorary president of the Holy Qur’an Memorization Society in Riyadh. He established a special endowment for the society to secure a constant income for it, and regularly supports and sponsors the annual ceremonies of Qur’an societies across the Kingdom,” he said.