In the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed, God decreed that the life of the last of the great reciters of the Egyptian Recitation School, Sheikh Muhammad Mahmoud al-Tablawi, who was born on November 14, 1934, would end, to enjoy his listening voice for seven decades.
Al-Tablawi died in the month of Ramadan (May 2020), after he gathered his family members to iftar on the fifth day of Ramadan, as he used to every year, and after he supervised the distribution of aid to the needy of his area through a charitable organization run by his daughter, while his tongue did not stop reciting the Qur’an. The usual in his weekly seal, bearing the pain of old age.
A week after he gathered his children, and on the fifth of May, the awakening of death noticed him, according to those close to the sheikh.
At the breakfast table, he began to share his family members one by one, and after everyone finished breakfast, and the summer continued, the Sheikh turned to his young son, Omar, who is 10 years old, and called him to him, and hugged him long and kissed him, then the last commandment recommended him to complete the memorization of the Qur’an, because it is a way success and survival.
Long trip
86 years old, the late captain of the reciters carried her on his back, the first of which did not bode well for him that he would become important in the state of the Qur’an, as he failed 9 times in the radio recitation exam, and at ten he called out laughing, “Oh, the blessing of the parents’ prayer, O Lord, protect me from the evil of this committee.” So he heard him The members of the examination committee unintentionally went through the open amplifier, so they laughed and took him into the exam to be surprised by his success the tenth time.
The owner of the unique style that distinguished him from others for decades, failed the exams because he was not familiar with vocal and musical positions, but he still insisted on fulfilling the dream of his father, Mahmoud al-Tablawi, who saw in a dream someone who promises him a single child who will have something to do with the Qur’an.
A journey that began with the dream of a simple man in the area of Mit Oqba in Cairo, Mahmoud Al-Tablawi, that he would have a child who had memorized the Qur’an. At the end of 1934, Muhammad was born. When he reached the age of four, his father attached him to the scribe of the area, and there Sheikh Ghoneim, the sheikh of the book, noticed the beauty of the child’s voice before it was completed. He memorized the Book of God at the age of ten, so the journey went through zigzags that culminated in reciting the Qur’an in the hollow of the Kaaba, as no reciter had done before.
This incident, which the late Sheikh did not cease to be proud of, and said, "I smelled the wind of Paradise at that time while I was reciting the Qur'an in the hollow of the Kaaba in Ramadan."
This incident occurred with the 1970s when he was sitting with the late Saudi king Khalid bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. God is the best of what He admonishes you with. Indeed, God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing” (Surat An-Nisa: Verse 58).
He did not imagine the possibility of realizing this dream, the young reader who started his activity as a wandering reader on public occasions in Giza Governorate and its surroundings, and was famous for the sweetness of his voice, the uniqueness of his way and the length of his breath, so large families started racing to book him on their occasions.
Al-Tablawi’s journey began with recitation on occasions when he was twelve years old, in exchange for 10 piasters per night (the pound was 100 piasters and the shark was valuable at the time), then he was invited to recite at funerals for senior officials, prominent personalities and well-known families, next to famous radio readers before he reached five ten, and his wages increased to 5 pounds.
defining moment
The most prominent turning point of the Sheikh occurred when he was approved by the Egyptian radio in 1970 AD, and there the Sheikh recorded the recital of the Qur’an, the recited and the teacher.
The Sheikh was famous before joining the radio, which made him more famous and helped him travel to various countries of the world.
The Sheikh was told a story by eyewitnesses, and it took place in the Italian capital, Rome, after the Qur’an was recited at the Islamic Council in the city. Pope John Paul II, Pope of the Vatican, invited him to meet him. He agreed on one condition that the Pope meet him in front of the elevator in appreciation of the book that Tablawy carried, and the Pope agreed.
In America, one of his readings witnessed the conversion of dozens on his hands after he finished reading, as he himself mentioned in one of his conversations.
It seemed that the seventies represented the era of al-Tablawi’s great launch, when he was chosen as a reciter of the Al-Azhar Mosque, in the realization of an old hope that the Sheikh had been tempting and praying to God to achieve.
Sheikh Captain
Later, Al-Tablawi became the captain of 12,000 readers in Egypt, and despite the huge number, Al-Tablawi expressed in several statements to him his regret for the “chaos” of reading, as the satellite channels opened the door to unaccredited readers, and the listeners no longer knew the time of the broadcast of his reading, so they waited for him, as was the case. Previously.
With this large number of readers, their captain and sheikh regretted the deterioration of their financial conditions and the lack of services provided to them, so the people with talent and beautiful voices left the field and the arena no longer witnessed the emergence of the voices of the splendor of the former, but most of them became imitators of the former, especially with the disappearance of the scribal system that was It produces memorizers of the Qur'an, among whom are rare voices.
In his advice to new reciters, al-Tablawi recommends closeness to God Almighty, piety, generosity, and almsgiving about the blessing of a good voice, and the certainty that the Qur’an has unlimited dignity.
Despite the fame and wealth that the Qur’an has bestowed upon him, he confirms that he did not seek to earn from the Qur’an, saying, “Personally, I never asked for a specific wage and left the matter to the owner of the matter, and there are many occasions that I went to and did not get paid for it, and I was very comfortable.”
And about his friend, who was always the closest to him, al-Tablawi said, “The Qur’an gathers blessings, enlightens hearts, preserves people, and gives them security and contentment.. This is the real wealth that is indisputable.