Sheikh Muhammad Rifat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article (or section) may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article, especially its section layout, and relevant internal links. (help)
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Sheikh Muhammad Rifat (sometimes spelled Rif'at or Rifaat, 1882 - 1950) is considered by many the greatest reciter of this century. He was admired for his immense musicality,his spirituality and uprightness. He is also commended for his mastery and understanding of the art of recitation in all aspects. Shaykh Rifat was the first reciter to read on National Radio in 1934 and his voice and style, as well as his general character, have been a model of the ideal reciter to generations of Egyptians and others ever since.

Sheikh Rifat completed memorisation of the Quran by the age of ten. He then studied the rules of recitation at the hands of Sheikh Mohammed Al-Bughdadi and Sheikh Al-Samalouti. The then prominent Quran reciters appreciated his talents and distinction. In fact, the voice of Sheikh Rifat was and still is a miraculous one in view of its unique qualities which combined all the heritage of the creative and exceptional vocal tones; he could perceive the meanings of the Holy Quran as related with its wording - along with a deep acquaintance with the matters relative to deterrence and exhortation. Thus, Sheikh Rifat overwhelmed his audience by reverence and submissiveness in a voice ranging from a violent cyclone to a soft breeze touching deeply the hearts of believers.

Sheikh Rifat was the official reciter of the Quran at Mustapha Pacha mosque in Darb Al-Gamamiz street in Cairo for more than 25 years when , in 1943, he was struck by illness which left him unable to recite. He was considered the "Master" of all Quran reciters and no one could match him or compete with such a title particular rank. He was the first to recite the Quran on the Egyptian Cairo Radio on May 31,1934. His recordings are considered as the most valuable and exceptional around.

Sheikh Rifat is greatly admired for correlating melody to the meaning of the Quranic Verses, this is known in arabic as tasweer al-mana.

In addition to recordings made by the Radio, there exist a great a very limited number of recordings made by Zakariyyâ Muhran Basha and Muhammad Khamees which his son, Mr. Husayn Rifat, has made available to the public. However the recordings are greatly distorted and do not show the true likeness of the reciter's voice, be they as amazing as they are.

Sheikh Mohammed Rifat passed away on Monday, May 9,1950 (the exact same date and day as his birthday; Monday, May 9 68 years before). The day of his death was a sad one, with announcers around the world announcing the loss of one of the islamic beacons of light. The Quranic voice of Sheikh Mohammed Rifat will remain resounding in the very hearts of his amateurs in Egypt and the Muslim World.