Quran Reciters

An interview with Shaykh Mustafa Ismael

part 1:

Part 2:

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)

Mostafa Ismail By Manal el-Jesri

1905 Mostafa Mohamed El-Mursi Ismail is born on June 17 in Mit Ghazal, a Gharbeya governorate village. 1911 The young Mostafa starts learning the Qur’an in the kuttab of Sheikh Abdel Rahman Abul Einein 1913 Mostafa moves to the kuttab of Sheikh Abdallah Shehata 1915 The 10-year-old becomes a celebrity reciter in his village, as his voice starts drawing listeners. 1917 Sheikh Mostafa Ismail finishes studying the art of tilawa and tajwid with Sheikh Idriss Fakher. He later moves to Tanta to study at the Religious Institute, after an Azhar Sheikh hears him recite in Oteif mosque. The young Sheikh embarks on his career as a reciter. 1920 He receives 70 pt for his first official three-night aaza [mourning] event. 1925 He recites during the aaza of one of Tanta’s richest men, Hussein El-Qasabi, and soon becomes a celebrity all over rural Egypt. 1927 He recites at the aaza of national leader Saad Zaghloul in Damietta. Meets his wife, the mother of his six children, and is also heard by all of Egypt’s pashas. He has to open an office in Tanta to organize his schedule. 1943 He recites in Cairo for the first time. Despite the war waged against him, he soon becomes the toast of the capital, and a radio star. 1944 He becomes King Farouk’s favorite reciter. His famous recitations from the King’s palace every Ramadan were heard by radio listeners all over the Arab world. Sheikh Mostafa becomes known to all Muslims, and travels all over the Arab world. 1947 He becomes Al-Azhar’s reciter, a prestigious post. 1965 Receives the Distinction Medal from Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had also made him his official reciter. Om Kolthoum and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab receive their medals on the same night as Ismail. 1977 Ismail travels to Jerusalem with President Anwar Sadat. Although the visit brings about attacks from all over the Arab world, Sheikh Mostafa realizes one of his dreams, to recite the Qur’an inside the Aqsa mosque. 1978 On Dec. 22, he recites the Qur’an for the last time in Damietta. Dies on Dec. 26.

Taken from:  http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5910

The Imam of Quraa Once, Sheikh Mostafa Ismail’s recitation of the Qur’an was enough to stop anyone in their tracks. Today, on the centenary of his birth, his followers are struggling to keep alive his tradition of melodic recitation. Will religious conservatives relegate an Egyptian tradition to the dustbin of history? By Manal el-Jesri

One day, a stranger happened to be passing through the village of Mit Ghazal in Gharbeya governorate when he heard the voice of a little boy reciting Qur’an at a kuttab. The man stopped, then took the boy home, along with his tutor, to speak with his father, where he advised the father to keep teaching the child the Qur’an because he was going to become one of the best reciters in recent history.

That was in 1911 by 1920, the little boy named Mostafa Ismail was well on his way toward becoming one of the most celebrated Qur’an reciters Egypt has ever known.

“You have to know that his voice at the very beginning was very different from what you hear in available recordings,” says Sheikh Mostafa Ismail’s son, Wahid. “The earliest recitations available are from the 1940s but he became a professional in 1920, at the age of 15.

“Twenty years ago, I met a man who had known him at the time. He told me, ‘I swear to God your father’s voice when he was 18 was the most beautiful voice anyone had ever heard. If a bird was flying over the sowan [tent set up for bereaved to receive condolences], it would have stopped in mid-air to listen,’” he says.

This year marks the centenary of the Sheikh’s birth (he came into the world on June 17, 1905), and while the anniversary has not been celebrated by the official media — except in a short segment on the daily talk show El-Beit Beitak — Sheikh Ismail’s fans and family are certain that the future will only bring more appreciation of his musical genius.

The unofficial celebration in June at El-Sawi Cultural Center suggests their hope-infused prediction may yet come true: It was very difficult to find a seat that night, and many people had to sit on the floor or stand at the back of the room.

The why of it all is simple: Egyptians have, throughout history, appreciated Qur’an recitation not just for its divine nature and meaning, but also for its aesthetic attributes. In The Art of Reciting the Koran, published by the AUC Press in 2001, musicologist Kristina Nelson writes: “Although the ideal recitation may not be called music, a certain musicality, such as use of melody and vocal artistry, is not only accepted but required to fill the intent of the ideal. This requirement is based on the recognition of the power of music in general to engage the emotions and thus involve the listener more totally in the recitation.”

While a select group still appreciates the aesthetic values of Egypt’s reciters such as Sheikh Ismail, Abdel Baset Abdel Samad, Mohamed Rifaat, Siddik El-Minshawy and Abdel Fattah al-Sha’sha’ii, more and more Egyptians are shying away from the distinctly Egyptian melodic recitation, most of them motivated by a pernicious conservative undertone in society.

Indeed, religious conservatism is leading some Egyptians reluctant to purchase or seek out this form of recitation, driving them toward drier, less musical forms that originated in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi model of hijab and even thinking has overtaken recitation as well. During Ramadan, we hear recitations that follow the Saudi (also known as the Hudhaifi) model on national television. For many, as Nelson points out, this reflects an artistic vacuum as much as it does a shift in religious attitudes. Egyptian recitation should be viewed as part of the Egyptian identity, which some fear is fast dissolving.

One way to maintain it would be to celebrate our great talents —talents such as Sheikh Mostafa Ismail.

The Followers

Ahmed Mostafa is Sheikh Mostafa Ismail’s biggest fan and collector. Finding his building on the winding and crowded Terat el-Gabal Street was as difficult as finding his specific apartment was easy — the sound of a beautiful Qur’an recitation filled the air. The voice, pure and clear, was unmistakably that of Sheikh Ismail, Egypt’s renowned reciter and arguably one of the most important voice talents of the 20th century.

Ahmed Mostafa, who is said to have over 1,000 live recordings by the late Sheikh, is working hard with the late Sheikh Ismail’s family to keep the star reciter’s memory alive.

Enter the collector’s apartment and you’ll be greeted by a living room full of visitors. Youssri El-Zayet, a friend of Ahmed’s, welcomes us in. I sit next to a young girl by the name of Somaia, who is 10 years old. The famous Qur’an chanter Sayyed El-Qadi sits across from me, as do Somaia’s father, uncle and Qur’an tutor. Ahmed Mostafa, who can’t seem to sit still, flits about turning on more Qur’anic renditions by Sheikh Ismail.

He is too busy doing a number of things at once, and talking to him is proving to be difficult. At last, he sits down and begins helping

Somaia recites the Qur’an. He says an aya (verse) and she copies it, trying to stay within the same maqam. (The maqam refers to the melodic system of Arabic music. A maqam is not a scale so much as a group of pitches that manifest characteristic melodic patterns and some hierarchy of pitch organization, as Nelson describes in her book.) Somaia is here today because Ahmed Mostafa is preparing her for Ramadan, when she will be reciting on Al-Fajr channel, for which he works as a consultant.

“I like Sheikh [Ismail] because he has the most beautiful voice,” she pronounces. “He is a karawan [nightingale]. I like his style and try to sound like him.”

Like Ahmed Mostafa, El-Zayet too is a collector of fine recitation. Unlike his friend who listens to no one and nothing but Sheikh Ismail, El-Zayet can appreciate different voices.

“Ahmed’s father, Mostafa Kamel, was one of Sheikh Ismail’s close friends, and one of his sammee’a [listeners]. Ahmed inherited this love. He literally grew up on the Sheikh’s lap, and would accompany his father to events where the Sheikh was reciting. As a teenager, he took a recorder with him to events, which is where his recordings come from today,” El-Zayet explains.

“Yes, it is true. I do not listen to anyone else,” admits Ahmed Mostafa. “When you get used to his voice, it is difficult to pollute your ears with anything else. My blood pressure goes up if I hear anything else.”

Ahmed Mostafa first met the Sheikh in 1949. “I was nine at the time. I heard him recite Suret El-Kahf [The Cave]. I enjoyed it very much. It was intimidating. People would scream and shout at each repetition, and my father would say ‘Aayy’ in a certain maqam. The Sheikh told me ‘This “ay” would ring in my ear, [shutting out] all the noise of the people.’ My father then taught me the maqamat. At 16, I saved enough money to buy my first recorder. Then I would follow the Sheikh to the Delta and Upper Egypt cities and towns. But before me came a number of fans who made recordings as well. First there was Ibrahim El-Kahky, then Saad El-Dhahabi, and before them were Ibrahim Qassem and Amin Bek Saeed. Today, I have 1080 hours of recordings. The [state-run] Radio has only 12,” he says.

A family affair

On one of Zamalek’s now-crowded streets is the home of engineer Wahid Mostafa Ismail. It was in this apartment that Sheikh Ismail lived before he moved to his famous villa a few streets away. The place of honor in their living room is dedicated to a glass case holding Sheikh Ismail’s memorabilia.

Seeing the emma [turban] and kakoola is, for some reason, a very moving experience. “He wrapped this turban around his head the last time he wore it. It has been kept intact since then,” Amani, Wahid’s wife, tells me.

Many people have tried to understand the genius of Sheikh Ismail’s voice, and Wahid starts to explain why, recalling an evening that took place 50 years ago, when he was 12. “We had some Lebanese visitors at home and they wanted to meet Mohamed Abdel-Wahab [the great musician]. My father asked me to accompany the driver to his house. As I knocked, Abdel-Wahab himself opened the door. He was very tall, and asked me who I was. When he found out I was Sheikh Mostafa’s son, he told me: ‘Do you know that your father is a genius?’ I s ‘Well, people say so’.”

As soon as he turned professional as a teenager, the reputation of the brilliant Sheikh spread from his village to the surrounding villages and from there to Tanta and to the whole of rural Egypt. “Until the early 1940s, my father did not feel the need to go to Cairo. This is why when he was asked to go to Cairo in 1943, he asked for LE 20. He knew that the competition was very severe in the capital, and he was satisfied with his fame so far, but the family agreed to his exorbitant price,” Wahid remembers.

Once he was heard in Cairo, he became the most coveted reciter in the country within a matter of days. His fame was only enhanced after King Farouk heard him on the radio and asked him to recite at the Royal Palace during Ramadan.

But his fame also brought him some enemies. “A certain famous sheikh of the era would refuse to give my father any chance to recite if they happened to be at the same event. He would keep going until everyone left. In one such event, the famous Sheikh Darwish El-Hariri, who taught Om Kolthoum, arrived with a group of artists and musicians, and insisted that my father recite even though it was already midnight and the workers were removing all the chairs in the sowan. My father then recited until 3 am. When he finished,” Wahid remembers, “El-Hariri declared he was the best reciter he had ever heard.”

As fellow reciters came to know the sheikh, they also came to love him.

“All the big names you hear about treated him with respect. Any leila [event] was his leila, and they sat there listening until he finished. He was very polite and soft-spoken and very funny too, which is why everybody loved him,” says Alaa Hosni Taher, his grandson, an EgyptAir flight attendant and a Qur’an reciter who follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, the great Sheikh Ismail.

Imam of Quraa

Taher was 20 when his grandfather died. “I used to go with him everywhere until he died. He knew I could recite, but I never asked him to sit and listen to me. Yet he would often ask me to recite a part he had read in a certain event. He would often be amazed, wondering how he achieved such a difficult note. ‘I wouldn’t be able to say it again if I wanted to,’ he would tell me,” Taher remembers.

Dr. Ahmed Neaynae, the famous Qur’an reader, once told noted composer Ammar El-Shereii: “Mostafa Ismail is not just one sheikh. He is several methods and sheikhs in one. You can find all musical forms in his recitation. Whenever I hear a sheikh say something, I remember that Sheikh [Ismail] had said it before. Reciters have failed to come up with anything new after him. He moves easily between maqamat, and never went off tune. The listener’s ear never feels tired of him, because he always intrigues his listeners. He is creative in his qafalat [endings]. I can often predict qafalat, but his are always unexpected.”

Late great composer Abdel-Wahab was of much the same opinion: “He was big in his art, he was big in his management of his voice, and was the only reciter who surprised listeners with unexpected maqam routes,” he once declared.

In his Dream TV program two years ago, El-Shereii tried to analyze the sheikh’s musical genius by replaying a few short recitations. “His recitation was miraculous, and he was a musical miracle as well. He was unique.”

Analyzing a different verse, the composer says: “He would go up to the very highest notes of the maqam, and he would do it with ease, enjoying himself. It is enough to drive you crazy. This man must have understood music very well, and must have meant what he was doing. He uses saba maqam at first to demonstrate huzn [sadness], then moves to the C, or agam, and then he takes his voice high up the notes when he says al-samaa (the sky) If this were not a musician, then we the musicians know nothing, and must go home. He knew what he was doing and did it depending on his knowledge of the [seven] qira’at [readings] and his very special expressive ability.”

Taher has dedicated most of his time to preserving his grandfather’s heritage by compiling his photos, recitations and everything that was ever written about him.

“He wasn’t called the Imam of Quraa for nothing,” Taher claims. “His genius was in his ever-varying recitation, which changed according to the atmosphere. His reading in Egypt was different from his reading in the Levant, and his reading in Cairo was different from his reading in Alexandria or Upper Egypt. Maqamat change according to the geographic area. In Indonesia, for example, they love the hogaz maqam, and they imitate my grandfather’s hogaz readings. But Sheikh [Ismail] was able to jump from maqam to maqam with great ease and beauty. Om Kolthoum was infatuated with him and would often ask him if he ever learned music. He said no, it is divine work, and just comes to him this way,” Taher says. “This is why he was always tense before any leila. A genius never repeats himself, but improvises as the moment decrees. He often ascended the dekka without knowing what he was going to read.”

A prince of tajwid (the system that codifies the divine language and accent of Qur’anic recitation in terms of rhythm, timbre, sectioning of the text, and phonetics, as Nelson explains), Sheikh Ismail told Nelson that, “The better one can use the maqamat, the more effective one’s recitation recitation without melody is of no benefit.”

He also confided the secret of his method, a method that today is taught to all young reciters. “With a low beginning, little by little [the reciter] takes hold of himself I entered on maqam hogaz with adab [politeness], not a rude awakening, but a polite knock.

‘Who’s there?’

‘Mostafa.’

‘Welcome, etc.’

These are manners, not rushing in on an open door when madam is sleeping.”

The Sammee’a

Back in Ahmed Mostafa’s apartment, we are joined by Sheikh Sayyed El-Qadi who, as a teenager, met Sheikh Ismail in 1962. El-Qadi believes Sheikh Ismail’s listeners were an important factor in making him what he became.

“Back in the past, the listeners were often as famous as the reciter. Many of them, who were talented musicians like Mostafa Kamel, Ahmed’s father, taught the sheikh the art of maqamat through their comments. This is why Sheikh Mostafa enjoyed reading in mosques or among people more than he liked reading for the radio. His audiences encouraged him, so he knew he was doing well. He enjoyed their comments.”

Taher begs to differ, for he believes his grandfather was in total control of his tools and was often unaware of the listeners, because when he went deep into his recitation he entered an altered state. “I think he affected his listeners, not the other way around,” Taher offers.

Although they may disagree on some points, both believe in Ismail’s genius. And part of his genius was his ability to repeat the same word or group of words several times, each time with a different melody.

“When I do a high passage and feel it is not up to its potential (not ripe), I do it again — still not right — again — OK. I keep repeating until it is good. I am aware of the presence of critical listeners,” Ismail himself explained to Nelson. Which is why a normal recitation session would take him anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes, sometimes even longer. On some nights the Sheikh was known to recite for three to four hours.

Sheikh El-Qadi then suggests that Sheikh Ismail lived in an era where a number of great musical talents existed, such as Abdo el-Hamoly, El-Manyalawi, Om Kolthoum, Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, and great reciters like Mohamed Rifaat, Mansour Baddar, Abdel Fattah El-Shaeshaey and others. “He had listeners who could move stone, and an atmosphere that encouraged uniqueness. It was a beautiful era. He had to come up with something new,” he explains.

El-Qadi’s words are blasphemy to Ahmed Mostafa’s ears. “Do you think El-Bahtimi, El-Minshawi or El-Seifi had it in them to recite like Sheikh [Ismail] and did not? His talent was divine, it came from above. They were nothing like him,” he interjects heatedly.

At this point his guest starts getting angry. “I have nothing to do with what you are saying. Seriously, this is not a joke. I do not like those who treat the Sheikh like the Ahly or Zamalek clubs. Let’s be serious, Sheikh Mostafa was surrounded by beauty. When I have to recite some ibtihalat [religious chants] for the fajr radio broadcast, I try to busy myself with my absolutions so I do not have to listen to the reciter preceding me. It ruins your hearing. Sheikh Mostafa must have benefited from his era,” El-Qadi charges.

Haram or halal

The new musical forms he came up with sparked an even more heated debate questioning the appropriateness of his style to a sacred text like the Qur’an. “The late Sheikh Mostafa Ismail was considered suspect as a reciter by many Muslims because of his extreme musicality. But one devout scholar [Dr. Hasan El-Shafei] told me that, although he used to think that Sheikh [Ismail] was ‘too musical’ he had come to accept him because he realized that Sheikh [Ismail] knew his tajwid; “There is no denying the musicality of the religious text, and as long as tajwid is used, and music does not distort tajwid or distract from the text, it is acceptable,” wrote Nelson. “Sheikh Mostafa himself told me that when asked about the reluctance to associate Qur’anic recitation with music, he responded, ‘as long as the rules of tajwid are adhered to, the pauses are correct, the reciter can recite with music however he wishes.’ This statement was broadcast over national television on the program Your Favorite Star with the ‘Imam of Al-Azhar, the president of the republic, and countless others listening,’ and Sheikh [Ismail] said he challenged anyone to disagree, but never heard a word of rebuttal.”

Sheikh El-Qadi is quick to recite a number of hadith to prove that Islam actually demands the Qur’an be recited with melody. “If a verse is read by a scholarly reciter who has studied then he will say the words right even if they are melodious. When you come to think of it, we use melody in our speech. Does this take away from it or add to it? The thing is not to forget the sacredness of the Qur’an, which Sheikh Mostafa never did.”

The Future Sheikh

A young man sits next to Sheikh El-Qadi. His face seems familiar, and I find out he is Yasser El-Sharqawi, a 20-year-old and already a rising star in the world of Qur’an reciting. Ahmed points him out, “Yasser is going to become a big star, don’t you think so, ya Sayyed?” The Sheikh nods his head. Yasser looks down in obvious embarrassment as he blushes profusely. “He sounds just like Sheikh [Ismail] to the untrained listener. Just the fact that he puzzles you a little is an honor enough for him. He will definitely fall after a while, because Sheikh [Ismail] was a gift from God,” Ahmed adds.

El-Sharqawi is fast becoming known through Al-Fajr channel; he’s a devout fan of Sheikh Ismail, and rarely listens to other reciters.

“Sheikh [Ismail] is unique, and very modern. His style is his own, and the melodies he recites once he never recites again,” he says. Three years ago he met Ahmed, who was impressed by his voice and decided to help him become a better reader. “He helps me manage my voice. He teaches me how to start with bayati, then go up (the scale) slowly, then go down again and then warm up to the high notes once more,” El-Sharqawi says.

His dream is to become a renowned reciter, his chosen profession, which he plans to take up fully after he graduates from Al-Azhar’s faculty of Shariah and Law. Whether it is a lucrative enough business is an open question. El-Zayet says that thanks to famous reciters alive nowadays, such as Sheikh Tablawi, a reciter can charge anywhere between LE 700 and LE 10,000 per night, depending on how famous he is.

El-Sharqawi has passed his tests at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union’s Quraa committee, where he explains he tried to come up with new forms for recitation: “I do not imitate Sheikh Mostafa. Although I love him and I belong to his school, I also try to come up with something new, just like he did.”

The young reciter is going to spend this coming Ramadan in Germany, where he will celebrate the Holy Month with that country’s Islamic community.

He recites some verses for us. At first, he gave us a rendition of Surat Al-Doha in the murattal style (faster, less melodious than tajwid). Afterwards, he continued in the tajwid style. His recitation moved everyone. Ahmed kept shouting “Allah ya walad ya Yasser!” every time the young talent improvised well, which reminds him of the live recordings he has of Sheikh Ismail’s readings.

Every time he showed his appreciation, El-Sharqawi’s reading seemed to improve. The relationship between a reciter and his listeners has rarely been clearer.

Coveted memories

Those who may want to hear for themselves face one mammoth obstacle — there are hardly any recordings of the Sheikh’s heritage. Only 18 tapes are available at Sawt El-Qahira. “We have some financial problems with them, which is why they do not print enough of Sheikh Mostafa’s work,” his son Wahid says. Taher points out that also available on the market is the complete mus-haf (Qur’an) in the murattal style, which makes it easier for students to follow and study. But the rare live recordings, which collectors savor and boast about, are very difficult to come by.

And it’s not just his recitations that seem to be lost. Where is his beautiful azaan? Why do we never hear it on television? Queries Wahid. “Where are the 700 tapes the radio has by him?” According to the Sheikh’s family, we are now witnessing an era of decline. “But it will end, and then people will start looking for my grandfather’s work,” Taher believes.

Wahid too is confident of this. “My father once said to me, ‘Do you know? One day, people will appreciate your father,” he tells. That was at a time when Sheikh Mostafa was met by heads of state wherever he went, and people treated him like a superstar when he walked down the street.

Ahmed Mostafa is as guarding of the Sheikh’s heritage as his family. He willingly copies out tapes to friends and acquaintances, making use of his extensive sound equipment, which he uses for nothing except the works of the reciter.

In the meantime, the Sheikh’s family holds on to the extensive rare recordings they own. “Now is not the time to release them. People are not ready. We want the young people to know who Sheikh Mostafa is, and we are looking for the way to do it right,” Wahid ends. 

Taken from http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5909

Malak al-Qurra, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was born in a village called Mit Gazal, a village near
Tanta in Egypt on 12 June 1905.
His parents named him Mustafa Muhammad Nursi Ismael, and little they knew
that their new born son will become the world’s most famous Qari (Quran
reciter), and his name will be associated with Quran all over the world.
Shaykh Mustafa Ismael focused on Quran at an early age and when he
became 10 years old he became a Hafız. He went to Ahmadi Institution at
Tanta and learned Tafsir (exegises), Qirat (science of recitation) and Fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence).
After that he devoted his whole life to the service of the Quran and, therefore,
was highly respected by everyone. It is noted that once he recited the Quran
at a very large gathering and thus became very popular among the people.
His son Wahid Mustafa said: Somebody pointed at my father and said that
this young man recites the Quran well. My father was to recite for 10 minutes
with Shaykh Rıfat but since Shaykh Rıfat liked it so much, my father recited
for an hour and a half.
His increasing popularity, his life and becoming very popular Qari is all by
Allah’s will. Around 1940’s he was recognized and respected by almost the
whole of Egypt. But his fame never changed his personality.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael among the crowd

Reciting the Quran at the radio station is another interesting story. The Qari
who recited the Quran from Egypt radio became ill and instead Shaykh
Mustafa Ismael was put on the radio chair to recite. King Faruq was one of the
audience. King Faruq liked Shaykh Mustafa Ismael so much that he
requested him to recite Quran during the Ramadan for himself. He was now
King’s Qari.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael and Shaykh Abu al-Enein Sheisha in the
company of King Faruq

For the birth celebration of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him), a none-profit organisation organised a programme and Shaykh
Abdul Fattah Shashi was to recite the Quran but because Shaykh Shashi
became ill, they tried to find another Qari as good as him. When they decided
on Mustafa Ismael he knew that this was a turning point of his life and of
course he was very happy about it. Also this programme was going to be on
the national radio station and was going to be on-air for 30 minutes. He was
worried because he got used to reciting for hours and now he would have to
reach the same success in just thirty minutes. Members of his household saw
that he was practicing against 30 minute limit.

On the night of the programme, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was received very
well in the Husayni Masjid. Those who had listened to Shaykh Mustafa Ismael
before were also among the crowd, and they supported him all along. This
programme also helped Shaykh Mustafa Ismael to establish himself as the
number one Qari in Egypt.

Years that followed, were the years that Mustafa Ismael’s fame rose and rose.
So many times presidents invited him at their Palaces to recite the Quran. He
had invitations from overseas and he mesmerized people over there as well.
In the year 1947, at the peak of his fame, he became the Qari of the al-Azhar
Mosque.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael reciting in a Masjid.

People of Egypt became very much interested in Mustafa Ismael. Mosques
would fill up with people where Shaykh Mustafa Ismael recited the Quran. No
one would leave the mosque until Shaykh Mustafa Ismael completed reciting
the Quran. He would recite for more than two hours and most significant thing
was that the perfection of his voice showed no decrease. People were curious
as to how he maintained his voice without taking any medication.
He received many plaques and achievement medals from the Arab and the
Muslim countries.

In Turkey
Shaykh Mustafa Ismael came to Turkey in 1961 and 1969. In 1969, his first
stop was Ankara. He was going to stay in Ankara for 15 days and another 15
days in Istanbul. Then he was going to visit other big cities of Turkey.
However, he was not happy regarding the amount of people who came to
listen to him in Ankara. Therefore, he immediately set off for Istanbul. And
Istanbul mesmerised him.

President of Turkey invited him at his palace and gave a special present
which was golden lettered Quran.

He stayed the whole Ramadan of 1969 in Turkey. He said that he loved the
people of Turkey. He also said “the people of Turkey are very respectful
towards the Quran and they are very quiet and respectful during recitations.”
One of the audience was Doctor Emin Isık from University of Marmara. Emin
Isık says “When we heard that he was going to recite in Suleymaniye Mosque
we rushed to listen to him. He recited the Quran for thirty minutes after
Taraweh prayers. Unlike people of Ankara, we had known Shaykh Mustafa
Ismael very well. People filled the mosque completely. Mustafa Ismael said “I
travelled all around the world but never saw anything like the audience of
Istanbul.” He was very happy about the crowd’s love for the Quran and the
beauty of the Mosque.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s son, Wahid

According to his son Wahid, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was delighted to be in
Turkey. When they asked him “Would you recitee Quran to us?” He never
refused to do. Even when they asked him to recite Quran outside the Mosque,
he never said no.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael visited Masjid-i Aqsa in 1977. President of Egypt
Anwar Sadat invited Mustafa Ismael in his visit to Quds. His recitation of the
Quran in Masjid-i Aqsa was broadcasted on television and whole the Muslim
world was able to watch him reciting the Quran.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael in Jerusalem

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael had moments in his life which he never forgot. One of
them was the moment when he recited the Quran in the company of King
Faruq. The other one was the examination of being a Qari.

Other qurra (Quran reciters) also loved Shaykh Mustafa Ismael and respected
him very much. Egypt’s famous qurra such as Shaykh Abdul Basıt Abdul
Samd, Muhammad Siddiq Minshawi and Shaykh Kamil Yusuf were very
respectful to Shaykh Mustafa Ismael.

Singers listened him

Even singers were among the ones who listened to him. One of the most
popular singer Ummul Kulthom was one of them. Musicians were amazed
during his recitations. They used to exclaim “He is doing Bayati…right now
Nahawand. He started Saba. Now Rast”.
He went and recited the Quran in America, France, Canada, Germany,
Turkey, İndia, Pakistan, and many other countries.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael with Qari Khushi Muhammad of Pakistan

The way Shaykh Mustafa Ismael recited the Quran has opened up a new era
in Quranic recitations. Even today many Qurra follow the way he recited. The
most important things in his recitations were: the way he started the Ayah, the
way he stopped the ayah, and the way he was able to show the depth of the
meaning of the Ayah with his voice.

In short he felt the Ayah when he recited
it. He understood the meaning of the Quran very well. He was increasing his
voice little by little in the Ayahs about hell and punishments or Ayahs of
Heavens. This added even more flavour to his recitations. He used his voice
perfectly. When the audience listened to him they felt that the Quranic Ayahs
were just being revealed.

Those who listened to Shaykh Mustafa Ismael saw: “Before he starts his
recitations, He sits and focuses for half an hour as if he is meditating. When
he starts reciting, it would take him another half hour to get warmed up.
Before he starts he makes sure his soul is ready for the recitation.” Famous
Egyptian writer Faiz Halava says “In Mustafa Ismael’s voice, the Quran is
even deeper than the deepest ocean”.

Sheikh Mustafa Ismael used to recite the Quran for 1-3 hours. One night he
even recited for 6 hours without any breaks, without deforming his voice. Not
even one person left before he finished his 6 hour long recitation. Egypt’s
famous Hafiz Dr. Ahmad Nuina started reciting the Quran by copying Sheikh
Mustafa Ismail. According to Ahmad Naina, Shaykh Mustafa Ismail is the best
Qari of this Century.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s closest student, Dr. Ahmad Nuina

Shaykh Fatihi Maligi is another student of Sheikh Mustafa Ismael. Shaykh
Fatihi studied with Shaykh Mustafa Ismael for 8 years. According to Shaykh
Fatihi: “Mustafa Ismael was a poll (north /south poll - top point - the best etc)
in recitation. Years and Fame never changed him”.

Fath-u-Allah Gülen said: I desired to listen to the Quran because of Shaykh
Mustafa Ismael. I saw him reciting the Quran in Makkah and Madinah.
Besides that he was a master of the Quran, he was also master of music. Not
many people had a voice like he had. He had a voice which never bothers
you. Many people developed a desire to listen to the Quran because they kept
listening to him on the radio. There were many famous Qurra (reciters of the
Quran), such as Shaykh Abdul Basıt Abdul Samd, Muhammad Siddiq
Minshawi, Shaykh Kamil Yusuf, and Muhammad Rıfat but Mustafa Ismael
was different. None could say ‘it would be better if he recited it this way’
because Shaykh Mustafa Ismael would recite it perfectly. He was a Qari with
golden a voice.

Famous Hafız from Egypt Shaykh Ali al Dabbaa says: “He was a star of the
century. The increasing of his voice, the decreasing of his voice, knowing all
seven Riwayah (narrations) best, were his outstanding ability over other
Qurra. He was able to maintain the peace in his voice for many hours.
He was a lover of the Quran. His wish was to remain a recite of the Quran
through out his life. Allah granted him his wish.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael reading the Quran in his bedroom

73 years under the shadow of the Holy Quran.

On December 26, 1978…Century’s best Qari was about to spend the last
hours of his life. Even the night before he became ill, he was reciting the
Quran at a ceremony.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael passed away peacefully on 26th December 1978, and
thus an end was put to the golden era of Quranic recitation.

Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s final resting place

Although we say that he has passed away, he is still with us and still reciting
the Quran with his recordings.

May the Merciful Allah shower His blessings on the soul of Shaykh Mustafa
Ismael and grant him a peaceful abode in Paradise next to the prophets, truthbearers,
martyrs and the righteous people. Aameen.

You can find most of Shaykh Mustafa Ismael’s videos & audio recitations, his Mujawwad & Murattal sets at http://www.quranreciters.com/od3/files.php?cat=2