Mahmud Ali Bassa
- Died
- 1368 AH
- Born in
- -
Mahmud ibn Ali Bassa (d. late 1950s CE / c. after 1368 AH) was an Egyptian scholar of al-Azhar who taught in its Department of Quranic Recitations and composed works on recitation and Quranic sciences, notably al-Amid fi Fan al-Tajwid ("The Masterwork in the Art of Tajwid").
Academic Career and Teaching
Mahmud ibn Ali Bassa was among the scholars of al-Azhar and served as an instructor in the Department of Quranic Recitations (Qira'at) affiliated with the Faculty of Arabic Language. In 1367 AH (1957 CE), he served on the board administering the oral examinations for the High Certificate of Recitations (al-Shahadah al-Aliyah li-l-Qira'at), examining students—including Abd al-Fattah al-Marsafi—in the Quran, the ten recitations transmitted via the Shatibiyyah and Durrah traditions, Arabic grammar, morphology, and classical texts.
In the field of Quranic recitation, he authored treatises addressing variant readings, such as Rawdat al-Jannat fi-ma Infurada bihi Thalathat al-Durrah min al-Qira'at ("The Garden of Paradises Concerning the Unique Variants of the Three Reciters of al-Durrah") and Mawakib al-Nasr fi Tawjih al-Qira'at al-Ashr ("The Processions of Victory in the Rationale of the Ten Recitations").
Death
Bassa died in the late 1950s CE, during the period when his student Abd al-Fattah al-Marsafi was enrolled in the specialization section of the Recitations Department at al-Azhar.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Amid fi Ilm al-Tajwid (The Masterwork in the Science of Tajwid) is a manual on Quranic recitation rules (tajwid) according to the transmission of Hafs an Asim. Structured into twenty-seven pedagogical lessons, it gathers the necessary recitation rules through clear and systematic explanations, concluding each lesson with review questions and practical exercises to aid student comprehension.