Mahmud Ali al-Banna

Mahmud Ali al-Banna (17 December 1926 – 20 July 1985) was an Egyptian Qur'an reciter known for his radio broadcasts and recordings. He recited at several of Egypt's great mosques, helped found the reciters' syndicate and was its deputy head from its formation in 1984. ^{1 2}

He was born at the village of Shubra Bas in the Shibin El Kom district of Monufia and memorised the Qur'an at the village kuttab under Musa al-Mantash, finishing, the article says, at eleven. He went on to Tanta to study the religious sciences at the Ahmad al-Badawi Mosque, reading the qira'at with Ibrahim ibn Salam al-Maliki. ¹

In 1945 he moved to Cairo, where he studied with Darwish al-Hariri, a teacher of the maqamat, and in 1947 he became reciter of the Young Men's Muslim Association, performing at its ceremonies. ¹

In 1948 he recited at an event attended by Ali Mahir Pasha and Abd el-Krim el-Khattabi, was encouraged to apply to Egyptian Radio and joined it that year; his first live broadcast, in December 1948, was from Surat Hud. ¹

In the late 1940s he was reciter at the Ain al-Hayat Mosque and in the 1950s at the Rifa'i Mosque. In 1959 he moved to the Ahmad al-Badawi Mosque in Tanta, staying until 1980, and then became reciter of al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo, the post he held until his death. ¹

For Egyptian Radio he recorded a murattal Qur'an, completed in 1967, and a mujawwad one, and he recorded murattal recitations for broadcasters in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He travelled across the Arab world and Europe and recited at the Masjid al-Haram, the Prophet's Mosque, al-Aqsa and the Umayyad Mosque; in 1978 he visited Germany. ¹

He worked for a professional syndicate of Qur'an reciters and became its deputy head when it was formed in 1984. He died on 20 July 1985; the funeral prayer was held at al-Hussein Mosque and his body was taken to Shubra Bas. ^{1 2}

In 1990 President Hosni Mubarak awarded him the Order of Sciences and Arts, received by his eldest son, Shafiq Mahmoud Ali al-Banna, and the Gharbia authorities named a street near the Badawi Mosque in Tanta after him. ¹

Wikidata listed articles on him in eight Wikipedia editions on 6 November 2026, among them Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, English, Persian, Japanese, Russian, Albanian and Ukrainian. ²

• English Wikipedia article, revision of 21 October 2026. ¹

• Wikidata item Q12241284. ²