Abdul Basit Muhammad Abdus Samad. Born: 1927 in Armant, Egypt. Died: 1988.His paternal grandfather and father were Huffaaz, well-versed in Tajweed and his maternal grandfather was an Aalim. Abdul Basit began Hifz of the Quraan when 6 and completed at 10 under Sheikh Ameer. Abdul Basit used to walk 3km to hear Sheikh Rif’at recite Quraan on the radio. He began imitating his style of Qiraat and by 12 people were calling him Sheikh.

Abdul Basit then studied Qiraat under Sheikh Saleem Hamadah. He was invited to recite Qiraat from 13. In 1950 he recited in Cairo and his fame spread in Egypt. In 1951 Abdul Basit was approved to recite on the radio station Izha’atul Quraanul Kareem. Egyptians began buying radios to hear him. In 1953 he was appointed official reciter at Musjid al-Imam ash-Shafi where he remained for 15 years. He was at Musjid al-Husain from 1985-1988.