Mustafa Ismail

Sheikh Mustafa Ismail arrived in Turkey in the year 1969, scheduled to stay in Ankara for 15 days, 15 days in Istanbul and then to visit the other major cities. Sheikh Mustafa Ismail wasn't very happy with his initial reception, especially the number of people in the audience. He decided to shorten his stay in Ankara and he set off for Istanbul. When he arrived in Istanbul, Sheikh Mustafa Ismail was mesmerized. The President of Turkey invited him to the Royal Palace and gave a golden lettered Quran, as a special gift. Sheikh Mustafa Ismail stayed in Turkey for the whole month of Ramadhan. In this month he developed a special connection with Turkey, he said that he loved the people of Turkey. He also said "the people of Turkey are very respectful towards the Quran and they are very quiet and respectful during recitations." One member of the audience was Dr.Emin Isık from the University of Marmara. Dr. Emin Isık says "When we heard that he was going to recite in the Suleymaniye Mosque we rushed to listen to him. He recited the Quran for thirty minutes after the Taraweeh prayers. Unlike the people of Ankara, we had known Shaikh Mustafa Ismael very well. The mosque was completely full, Sheikh Mustafa Ismael said "I have travelled around the world but I have never seen anything like the audience of Istanbul." He was very impressed and happy about the audiences love for the Quran and the beauty of the Mosque. According to his son Wahid, Shaykh Mustafa Ismael was delighted to be in Turkey. When they asked him "Would you recite Quran to us?" He never refused. Even when they asked him to recite Quran outside the Mosque, he never said no.

By the 1940s he was recognized and respected by almost the whole of Egypt, one particular quality of note is that Sheikh Mustafa Ismail's personality never changed.

Mustafa Ismail (June 17, 1905 - December 26, 1978) was an Egyptian Quran reciter. The quadrumvirate of El Minshawy, Abdul Basit, Mustafa Ismail, and Al-Hussary, who belong to the famous and well-respected "Egyptian Reciting School", are generally considered the most important and famous Qurra' of modern times to have had an outsized impact on the Islamic world.

Ismail was born in a village called Mit Gazal, near Tanta in Egypt on 17 June 1905 and his parents named him Mustafa Muhammad Mursi Ismail. He was raised by his grandfather. Shaykh Mustafa Ismail focused on the Quran from an early age, when he reached the age of 10 he completed his hifdh Hafiz (memorized the Quran). He went to an Institution in Tanta and was instructed in the science of Tafsir (exegesis), Qiraa'at (art of recitation) and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). After completing his formal studies, Sheikh Mustafa Ismail devoted his life to the service of the Quran.