Abdurrahmane Benmussa

Education

He was born in Salé on 28 August 1908 (1326 AH) into a family of scholars: his father, Ahmad Benmoussa, was a jurist and hadith scholar. After memorising the Quran, he learned the core texts of traditional education (the Ajurrumiyya, the Lamiyyat al-Af'al and the Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani) under Sheikh Abd al-Hadi Atoubi, and studied with Ahmad ibn Abd al-Nabi, Abu Shu'ayb al-Dukkali and Muhammad ibn al-Arabi al-Alawi.

In the service of the palace

One day in Ramadan, when the judge's rota called on him to lead a prayer attended by Mohammed V, the king was struck by the quality of his tajwid. He summoned him to the palace and asked him to settle in the Mechouar, where he thereafter led the Ramadan prayers for the king and his family. When the Royal College was founded, Mohammed V entrusted him with teaching Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and gave him a house within the palace grounds. After the king was exiled to Madagascar, he refused to stay on at the palace and returned to Salé.

Radio and television

The public came to know his voice through national radio and then his face on Moroccan television in the early 1960s, whose broadcasts began and ended with verses recited by him.

He died on Monday, 24 February 1997 (17 Shawwal 1417 AH).