Egypt’s 29th Int’l Quran Contest Named After Legendary Qari Sheikh Mustafa Ismail
Speaking in a Saturday meeting with members of Egypt’s Association of Quran Reciters at Imam Hussein (AS) Mosque in Cairo, he said the contest will be held in February 2023, Bawaba News reported.
Gomaa said the ministry has chosen the name of Sheikh Mustafa Ismail for this year’s Quranic event after consultations with Quran experts.
He said this naming is aimed at commemorating the great qaris of the Golden era of Egypt’s Quran recitation.
He also noted that the ministry has raised the amount of cash prizes for winners of the competition, with the top winner set to go home with 250,000 Egyptian pounds.
The 29th edition of the international Quran competition will be organized in eight categories, including Quran memorization, recitation and Quranic concepts, Gomaa went on to say.
Sheikh Mustafa Ismail was one of the greatest qaris Egypt has ever introduced to the Muslim world.
He was born on June 17, 1905 in Mitghazal Village near the city of Tanta north of Cairo.
He started learning the Quran at an early age and recited the Quran and Adhan (call to prayers) at ceremonies and mosques since early childhood.
To enhance his Quran recitation skills, he studied Quran recitation styles and religious teachings in Ahmadi Institute for some time.
Two of his masters, Sheikh Muhammad Abu Hashish and Sheikh Dris Fakhir played a major role in helping him advance on the path of Quran recitation.
At 15, he became so famous that people would come from other villages and towns, even from Cairo, to listen to his recitations.
Sheikh Mustafa Ismail never forgot his first recitation in Cairo. "Sheikh Muhammad Salama, one of most distinguished qaris in Egypt, and I had been invited to recite the Quran at a special event in Dawudiya District (of Cairo). This great qari was in the habit of continuing his recitation for a long time so that no other qari would have a chance to recite the Quran at any program. That night was no different. He started at 8 P.M. and continued until midnight. When he finished, everyone left the venue and I was left with empty seats. Nonetheless, I began reciting the Quran and when people who had left heard my voice they returned one after another. Soon the place was full of people who had returned to listen to my recitation.”
The first time Sheikh Mustafa Ismail’s recitation was broadcast on Egyptian radio was in 1943 when he was asked to recite verses from the Quran in place of Sheikh Abdul Fattah Shoaisha, who was ill on that day.
In the following years, he recited the Quran in front of dignitaries, kings, presidents and other senior officials.
He received Egypt’s highest medal of honor from then president Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1955.
When he died in December 1978, hundreds of people, including senior officials from Egypt and other countries attended his funeral.
Among them were also 200 Qaris from different parts of Egypt.
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