In the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed, God destined that the life of the last great reciter of the Egyptian recitation school, Sheikh Muhammad Mahmoud al-Tablawi, who was born on November 14, 1934, would end so that his voice would be enjoyed by listeners for 7 decades.

Tablawi died in Ramadan (May 2020), after gathering his family for the fifth Iftar in the Ramadan as he used to do every year, and after supervising the distribution of aid to the poor of his area through a charity run by his daughter, while his tongue did not stop reciting the usual Qur'an in his weekly conclusion, bearing the pain of old age.

A week after he gathered his children, on the fifth of May, he became aware of the awakening of death, as narrated by people close to the sheikh, so he seemed relieved of the diseases of old age, and since waking up he has been laughing and promising, caressing his family members.

At the breakfast table, he began to hang out with his family members one by one, and after everyone finished breakfast, and the summer continued, the Sheikh turned to his young son Omar, aged 10 years, and invited him to him, and embraced him long and kissed him, and then recommended him the last commandment of the need to complete the memorization of the Qur'an, because it is the way to success and survival.

Long journey

86 years carried by the late Readers Syndicate on his back, the first of which was not promising him that he will become significant in the state of the Qur'an, as he failed 9 times in the radio recitation exam, and in the tenth he called laughing "O blessing of the parents' prayers, O Lord, enough evil of this committee", members of the examination committee heard him through the open magnifier unintentionally, so they laughed and entered him for the exam to be surprised by his success in the tenth time.

He had a unique style that distinguished him from others for decades, failing exams because he did not know the vocal and musical maqams, but he remained determined to achieve the dream of his father Mahmoud al-Tablawi, who saw in a dream someone promising him an only child who would have something to do with the Qur'an.

A journey that began with the dream of a simple man in the Mit Uqba area in Cairo, Mahmoud al-Tablawi, that he would have a child who preserved the Qur'an, and in late 1934 Muhammad was born, when he reached the age of four, his father attached him to the book of the region, and there Sheikh Ghoneim Sheikh of the book noticed the beauty of the child's voice before the book of God was saved at the age of ten, to pass the trip with zigzags culminating in reading the Qur'an in the hollow of the Kaaba, as no reader did before.

This incident, which the late Sheikh has always boasted about, says, "I smelled the wind of Paradise at that time while I was reading the Qur'an in the hollow of the Kaaba in Ramadan."

This incident occurred during the seventies when he was sitting with the late Saudi King Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, so he took him with him to wash the Kaaba, and then asked him to read the beginning of the Almighty's saying, "۞ God commands you to perform trusts to its people, and if you rule among people to judge justly, God is blissful to preach to you, God was hearing and seeing" (Surat An-Nisa: Verse 58).

He did not imagine the possibility of achieving this dream that the boy reader who began his activity as a roving reader at public events in and around Giza, and was famous for the sweetness of his voice and the uniqueness of his way and the length of himself, so large families are racing to book him on their occasions.

Tablawi's journey began with recitation on occasions at the age of twelve, for 10 piasters per night (the pound is 100 piasters and the shark was valuable at the time), then he was invited to recite at funerals for senior employees, prominent personalities and well-known families, next to famous radio readers before he reached fifteen, and his wage rose to 5 pounds.

A defining moment

The most prominent turning point for the Sheikh occurred with his adoption in the Egyptian radio in 1970, and there the Sheikh recorded the Qur'an recitation, glory and teacher, and in his multiple dialogues for newspapers, Tablawi was confirming that "radio has a great credit to the people of the Qur'an."

The Sheikh was famous before joining the radio, which increased his fame and helped him travel to various countries of the world.

Narrated from the Sheikh story eyewitnesses, and took place in the Italian capital Rome, after the recitation of the Qur'an Islamic Council in the city, invited by Pope John Paul II, Pope of the Vatican to meet him, agreed to one condition that the Pope meet him in front of the elevator in appreciation of the book carried by Tablawi, and the Pope agreed.

In America, one of his readings there saw dozens of people Islam at his hands after he finished reading, as he himself mentioned in one of his interviews.

It seemed that the seventies represented the era of the great launch of Tablawi, where he was chosen as a reader of the Al-Azhar Mosque, in the realization of the old hope remained haunting Sheikh and prays to God to achieve, and later learned that the Minister of Awqaf at the time asked for lists of applicants and did not find the name of Tablawi among them ordered to put his name and make it a reciter of Al-Azhar.

Sheikh Al , Naqib

Later, Tablawi became a syndicate of 12,<> reciters in Egypt, and despite the large number, Tablawi expressed in many statements to him his regret for the "chaos" of reading, as satellite channels opened the door to unapproved readers, and listeners no longer have a reader who knows the date of broadcasting his reading and waiting for him, as was the case previously.

With this large number of readers, their captain and sheikh regretted the deterioration of their material conditions, and the lack of services provided to them, so the talents and beautiful voices left the field and the arena no longer witnesses the emergence of voices with the splendor of the former, but most of them became imitators of the former, especially with the disappearance of the system of Katateeb that was produced in order to preserve the Qur'an, among them are rare voices.

In his advice to new reciters, Tablawi recommends closeness to God Almighty, piety, generosity and zakat for the blessing of a good voice, and the certainty that the Qur'an has dignity without limitation.

With the fame and wealth that the Qur'an has bestowed upon him, he confirms that he did not seek to profit from the Qur'an, saying, "Personally, I never asked for a certain wage and left it to the owner of the matter, and there are many occasions that I went to and did not receive a fee for them, and I was very comfortable."

As for his companion, who was always closest to him, Tablawi said, "The Qur'an gathers blessings, enlightens hearts, preserves human beings and gives them safety and contentment. This is the real and indisputable wealth, and the Holy Quran has made me happy, honored and cherished me with the leaders and revived me a decent life."