After my grandfather, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael, passed away, I felt I had lost my father. My father passed away when I was young, about two years old. And he left us a good amount of wealth as he was an army officer. But still, Mustafa Ismael saved everything for us even though he had a big family, three sons and three daughters. He made us feel that we were important to him. He allowed his sons to study in Germany and the daughters to study in American school, first in Tanta, then in Cairo. He also used to financially support his brothers and their families.
When I was a young boy, travelling with Shaykh Mustafa Ismael, I used to look out of the car window at the people who would have come to greet Mustafa Ismael and would be waiting for him with respect. I used to feel so happy and would ask myself “why is this?”, “who is he?”, “he is my grandfather, he is very famous”.
One day, when I was five years old, I was playing in the garden of our country house in Meet Ghazal. We spended our school holidays there and Shaykh Mustafa Ismael used to visited us when he was free. One day my mother called for me and said “Alaa, come here, come and listen to your grandfather on the radio.” I had not seen him for one week. He was very busy and I was missing him a lot. So when I heard my mother that my grandfather was on the radio, I left the game and went inside to hear my grandfather. I went immediately to the radio and lied down on the floor on the carpet, hearing his beautiful voice.
When I reached seven years of age, he allowed me to accompany him to the Quran gatherings in the mosques or villages. It was amazing experience. I was surprised how the people received him, in particular in the countryside. He would have his car moving through hundreds of people waiting for him. When he got out of his car one could not imagine how silently and respectfully they looked at him. I was delighted to accompany him to the Quranic gatherings, even though it always resulted in me falling asleep after half an hour.
Alaa Hosni with his grandfather, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael.
When I was twenty years old, I started studying Fiqh and Shariah with the imam of Al-Azhar Masjid. In his lessons, he taught us high morals and how to be good Muslims. At this moment, through my studies, I recognised that my grandfather was a great Muslim. He loved the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and followed his Sunnah. He had the best of the character and treated others with the highest respect. He never lied or backbited. Although, he had received a special gift of Quranic recitation from Allah Almighty, he never made others feel that he was special or famous.
He appreciated that he had a gift from Allah Almighty and if he did not respect it, He will take it back. So he never talked about other people’s voices. He never said that some reciter’s voice was bad or good. He believed that Allah Almighty gave to everyone what He wished.
It seems he was sent to this world just to recite the Holy Quran. He was creative with reciting the verses of the Holy Quran. Although, he recited the Holy Quran for more than sixty years, his two recitations of the same verses are never the same. Although, not all of his recitations have been recorded, the number of his recitations that have been recorded are more than the recordings of any other reciter (qari).
The first person to record Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s recitations was Hasan Bik Hilmi who was working in the King’s palace in 1945. Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was forty years of age at that time. Prior to this recording, there are no recordings of his recitations.
I have to point out that the Egyptian radio and TV stations have a great treasure of his recitations in their library. But until now that treasure is still hidden away. More than seven hundred audio recitations from different mosques and King’s palace and videos from the year 1960 till his passing away in 1978 have not been made available by the Egyptian public through the media. We need these recordings to be made available to the general public. Therefore, I am praying and I will continue to pray till we get this hidden treasure to come to light so that we can listen and appreciate a new chapter in Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s life.
A historian and musical professor, Kamal al-Najmi, said in his book “Shaykh Mustafa Ismael: His life in the light of Quran” that he practiced his voice a lot. And more he practiced, more controlling and flexible his voice became. He was able to mix the rules of the Holy Quran, interpretation of the Holy Quran, musicality and vocal knowledge to produce a mesmerising Quranic recitation. His fans were surprised all the time and every time. Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was very unpredictable.
A great Egyptian singer and composer, Abdul Wahhab said: Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was surprising us all the time with un-expectable musical plans and endings. He was a gifted person and had a great control over his voice. He was very daring and was not afraid to try out different techniques. He was able to achieve Jawab-al-Jawab (highest musical note) with his voice which had not been achieved till then.
Alaa Hosni reciting the Holy Quran before the Jummah prayer in a Cairo Masjid.
This is my grandfather, to whom I owe my love of the Holy Quran and good morals. He planted this love into my heart not by giving lectures but through his good behaviour.
Thank you my grandfather. May Allah Almighty give you best and the highest place in paradise. Aameen.
This is a translation of an Arabic article originally published in Al Arabi Magazine (October 2005)
