Mohamed Salamah

Who was Mohamed Salamah?

Mohamed Salamah was a student at Al-Azhar University, and at the age of nineteen was encouraged to become a reciter. He had already been reciting since the age of ten. Salamah fought in the rebellion against the British in 1919 and proudly acknowledged his role in that.

He is the only prominent reciter who refused to record for the radio. One of the reasons for this refusal was the latter's failure to comply with certain conditions set by him, such as not having the Quran broadcast into the streets and cafes and not having the female announcer present in the same room while he was recording. It is argued that this failure to comply was the loss ultimately of the people.

He participated in a conference of reciters in 1937 which resulted in the establishment of a Reciters' Association. The issue at stake was that some reciters were afraid that broadcasting recitation would harm the less prominent reciters, and that as a consequence their services would be less in demand.

Salamah was both extremely articulate and sincere about his faith. In performance he was restrained in his gestures, ignoring the admiring comments. He was even noted to turn away from those wanting to kiss his hand in appreciation. When another reciter was performing, he would listen intently with his bowed. He was the acknowledged mentor of Kamil Yusuf Al-Bahtimi and Mohamed Siddiq El-Minshawi, both of whom lived in his house for a period of time and went on to become widely respected reciters. Salamah was a teacher of several prominent reciters, such as Ali Mahmood, Sayyid Darweesh, and Zakariyya Ahmad. He is also respected in that he was able to recite at a very old age - having lived to almost a hundred years of age, he recited with great sophistication well past the age at which many reciters were unable to recite with any real attainment.