Abdul Rashid Ali Sufi

Background and training

He grew up in a scholarly family: his father, Sheikh Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman Sufi, was the mufti of Somalia and its leading Quran teacher, and played a major part in spreading the science of tajweed and the readings in the country. From him he learned the Quran, which he knew by heart at ten, then tajweed in the reading of Hafs and the seven readings according to the Shatibiyya.

In 1981 he went to Egypt, where he obtained the higher diploma (al-shahada al-'aliya) in the ten readings. Alongside his formal studies he recited the Quran to Sheikh Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Hamadhani at Al-Azhar Mosque, who granted him two ijazas in the ten readings: one through the Shatibiyya and Durra routes, the other through Ibn al-Jazari's Tayyiba.

Career

Back in Somalia, he taught and led prayers at his father's mosque in Mogadishu, and taught the Quranic sciences at the College of Islamic Studies affiliated with Al-Azhar. In 1991 he moved to Qatar, where the Ministry of Awqaf appointed him imam and preacher of the Anas ibn Malik Mosque in Doha. He also gives lessons and lectures in Qatar and abroad, particularly in Europe.

Recitation

Besides his complete recitation in Hafs, he has recorded the Quran in several other riwayat, including Shu'ba 'an 'Asim, al-Susi 'an Abi 'Amr, Ibn Dhakwan 'an Ibn 'Amir, Khalaf 'an Hamza, Abu al-Harith and al-Duri 'an al-Kisa'i.