Efforts Underway to Collect, Publish Recitation Heritage of Sheikh Rifaat, Grandson Says
Alaa Hosein Mohamad Rifaat made the remarks while speaking with a newspaper on the occasion of the demise anniversary of the great qari.
He noted that the heritage has been collected from two main sources. One of the sources, according to the grandson, is a former Egyptian lawmaker Zakaria Pasha Mehran who was a fan of Sheikh Rifaat and used to record his recitation on Gramophone discs.
The second source was another fan named Farid Khamis but his recordings are not as good in quality compared to the previous source, Alaa Hosein said.
He noted that his father started collecting these recordings years ago and now, new technologies allow them to improve and revive the pieces.
“We are putting efforts to offer this valuable recitation to people with the best quality possible,” he stressed.
Rifaat (1882-1950) was a qari from Cairo who lost sight before he was 6 years old due to an illness. This event changed his life forever. He was not the only blind qari in Egypt, as there were others such as Sheikh Muhammed Abdulaziz Hasan, Mohamed Omran, and Mahmood Ramadan. Their recitations were not only remarkable for their technical accuracy, but also for their spiritual depth and emotion, especially in the case of Rifaat.
Rifaat memorized the whole Quran in his childhood with the support of his father. Sheikh Ali Mahmood (1878-1943) was impressed by his recitation and predicted that he would become a great qari in the world, and he was right.
Sheikh Rifaat’s career can be divided into two stages; the first one lasted until he was 32 years old. In this stage, there were no microphones in Quranic sessions and qaris with louder voices were more popular. However, in the second stage, which started after he turned 32, microphones were introduced in Quranic gatherings. This allowed people to appreciate the finer details and nuances of Rifaat’s recitation and made him more famous in Egypt and beyond.
He passed away on May 9, 1950.
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