Mahmoud Khalil

He authored several books in the field of Quranic sciences which were published by al-Azhar University. In the preface of one of his books, Ma` Al-Qur’an Al-Karim (lit. With the Holy Koran), Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, the then chief Imam of the al-Azhar mosque, said about him:

A TV series titled Imam al-Maqar'ine (Arabic: إمام المقّرئين ‎, lit. 'The Chief of Qur'an Reciters') starring Hassan Youssef, created by Dr. Bahaa El-Din Ibrahim and directed by Mustafa Al-Shall, was based on Al-Hussary’s life and performances, and had backing from the Shaykh's children, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hussary and Yasmine Al-Khayam.

As one of the four top-ranking reciters in Egypt, he recorded the complete Quranic text in both styles of recitation, murattal (tarteel) and mujawwad (tajwid) and was, in fact, first-ever Qari to record and broadcast the murattal style. He recorded and wrote treatises on various Qur'an recital styles: Hafs an ‘Äsim in 1961, Warsh an Nâfi’ in 1964, Qâlûn an Nâfi’ and Ad-Dûrî an Abi 'Amr in 1968. In the same year, he recorded the Qu'ran in Al-Mushaf Al-Mu’allim (Arabic: المصحف المُعلّيم ‎, lit. 'Teaching Qur'an') style, a tarteel technique with exclusive focus on pedagogy.

Al-Hosary, the largest mosque in 6th of October City, inaugrated in October 2005, built by the Shaykh Al Hussary Society (Arabic: جمعيه الشّيج ٱلحصري ‎), chaired by his daughter, Yasmeen al-Khayam (née Al-Hussary), is named after him. The complex, a major landmark of the city, hosts an orphanage, a Qur'anic institute, and multi-purpose auditoriums. The Society has also been instrumental in resettling Syrian refugees in Egypt. The mosque rather remarkably hosts sermons from contrarians such as Amr Khaled as well as orthodox clergy of Al-Azhar, and government ministers.

He died of liver failure on 24 November 1980 during a trip to Kuwait. His last public recitals were at the Kaaba in Mecca and Masjid al Nabawi in Medina.

At the time of his death in 1980, he left a third of his wealth to build a mosque on Al-Ajuzah Street in Cairo. In his will, he left the expenses for the mosque he had built in Tanta, as well as for the three Islamic institutes and a center dedicated to Quran memorization, Mahad Azhar (Arabic: معهد ٱلأزهر ‎, lit. 'the luminous institute'), in his village, Shobra al-Namla.

He was a recipient of the Egyptian Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences, First Grade, from the Egyptian president Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasir, in 1967. The same year, he was elected the President of the Islamic World League of Qur'an Reciters.

After returning to Cairo, al-Hussary studied and taught at Al-Azhar University. In 1960, he led the department of wa al-Hadith bi Jam'i al-Buhuts al-Islamiyah (Arabic: الحدِيث ٱلبِجامِع البحوث الإسـلامـية ‎) for correcting Quranic codexes present in the al-Azhar libraries.

In 1960, he travelled to Pakistan and India, the first Egyptian Qari to do so, to recite at a conference in the presence of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the first Egyptian President, Gamal Abdul Nasir. He also accompanied the Rector of al-Azhar University on his travels and was invited to participate in the World of Islam festival in London (1976). He has recited the Quran in front of the American Congress, the United Nations in 1977, and at the Buckingham Palace in 1978. He has also been on Quranic recital tours to the Philippines, China, France, and Singapore; in addition to touring other Muslim countries, mostly during the month of Ramadan.

Al-Azhar awarded him the title Shaykh al-Maqâri (Arabic: ٱلشـيخ المقأرِئ ‎, lit. 'Scholar of the Reciting Schools') in 1957. He was also appointed to the board of Islamic research on Hadith and the Qur'an at Al-Azhar.

In 1955, he was appointed to the Al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo and remained in-service there for 29 years, until his death.

Shaykh Mahmoud Khalil al-Hussary (Arabic: ٱلشِـيـْخ محمُود خَلِيـْل الْحُصـري ‎), also known as Al-Hussary, was an Egyptian Qari widely acclaimed for his accurate recitation of the Qur'an. Al-Hussary committed the entire Qur'an to memory by age 8 and started reciting at public gatherings by age 12. In 1944, Al-Hussary won Egypt Radio's Qu'ran Recitation competition which had around 200 participants, including veterans like Muhammad Rifat. The quadrumvirate of El Minshawy, Abdul Basit, Mustafa Ismail, and Al-Hussary are generally considered the most important and famous Qurra' of modern times to have had an outsized impact on the Islamic world.

He moved to Cairo and joined Egypt's official Qur'an radio station as a reciter making his first appearance on February 16, 1944. Just a year later, in 1945, al-Hussary was appointed reciter at the Ahmad al-Badawi mosque. On August 7, 1948, he was nominated mu'adhin of the Sidi Hamza Mosque and later, a Maqari (Arabic: مقأرِئ ‎, lit. 'reciter') at the same mosque. He also supervised recitation centers in the al-Gharbia province. Though a conflicting report claims he served at the Ahmad al-Badawi mosque for 10 straight years.

In 1944, Al-Hussary won Egypt Radio's Qu'ran Recitation competition which had around 200 participants, among them some veterans like Muhammad Rifat, Ali Mahmud, and Abd Al-Fattah Ash-Sha'sha'i.

The 26th International Quran Contest hosted by Egypt was named after him in his honour.