Mustafa Ismail
Encyclopedia
Early life
Shaykh Mustafa Ismael is one of the most well known Qaris (Quran reciter). He was born in a village called Mit Gazal, a village near TantaTanta
Tanta is a city in Egypt. It is the country's fifth largest populated area, with an estimated 429,000 inhabitants . Tanta is located north of Cairo and southeast of Alexandria...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
on 17 June 1905 and his parents named him Mustafa, he was raised by his grandfather.
Shaykh Mustafa Ismael focused on Quran at an early age and when he became 10 years old he became a Hafiz (memorized the Quran). He went to Ahmadi Institution at Tanta and learned Tafsir (exegises), Qiraat (science of recitation) and Fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(Islamic jurisprudence). After that he devoted his life to the service of the Quran and. 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 Rifat but since Shaykh Rifat liked it so much, my father recited for an hour and a half."
The Qari who recited the Quran from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
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.
Unique Style
Dr. Ahmed Nuaina, an Egyptian 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 approach 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
Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
, 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.”
Chronology
- 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. He becomes 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 worldArab worldThe Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
. Sheikh Mostafa travels all over the Arab world. - 1947 He becomes Al-Azhar’s reciter, a prestigious post.
- 1965 Receives the Distinction Medal from Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
, who had also made him his official reciter. Umm Kulthum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab receive their medals on the same night as Ismail. - 1977 Ismail travels to Jerusalem with President Anwar SadatAnwar SadatMuhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
. He recites the Qur'an inside the Al-Aqsa mosqueAl-Aqsa MosqueAl-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...
. - 1978 On Dec. 22, he recites the Qur'an for the last time in DamiettaDamiettaDamietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...
. Dies on Dec. 26.
External links
- http://www.mustafaismail.org
- Mustafa_Ismail - mp3 audio & Videos
- http://www.quranreciters.com/wp/index.php/2006/04/23/mustafa-ismael-short-biography/
- http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5910