Mishary Rashid Alafasy

Mishari bin Rashid bin Gharib bin Muhammad bin Rashid Alafasy is a Kuwaiti Quran reciter, imam of the Grand Mosque of Kuwait and preacher in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, and a nasheed artist and presenter, born in Kuwait on Sunday 11 Ramadan 1396 AH, corresponding to 5 September 1976. ^{1 2}

Audiences know him from his recorded recitations, which he began releasing in 1996, and then from his nasheeds, programmes and satellite channel, until he became one of the most widely heard recitation voices in the world: the English article describes him as one of the most recognised voices in nasheed and Quran recitation, with his voice available on commonly used Quran listening apps. ³

Alafasy belongs to the al-Afsa of the Mutayr tribe; he is married, a father of two sons and three daughters, and is known by the kunya Abu Rashid. ¹

He memorised the whole Quran in 1992–1994, then studied at the Islamic University of Madinah in the College of the Holy Quran and Islamic Studies, specialising in the ten qira'at and tafsir, learning from leading scholars and reciters of Madinah in the College of Qira'at, and reaching the third year of his studies. ^{1 3}

He was licensed (ijaza) in the recitation of Asim in the narration of Hafs by way of al-Shatibiyya, and travelled to Egypt to obtain ijazas from leading reciters of the Muslim world: he received an ijaza in the recitation of Asim ibn Abi al-Nujud from Abd al-Rafi' Radwan al-Sharqawi, an oral ijaza from Ibrahim al-Samnudi, an ijaza in Hafs from Ahmad Abd al-Aziz al-Zayyat, and he read to Ahmad Isa al-Masarawi, Ibrahim al-Akhdar and Khalil al-Rahman al-Qari. ¹

His first Quran release was Surahs Ghafir, Fussilat and al-Shura in 1416 AH, and he first led prayers at the Grand Mosque of Kuwait in the last ten nights of Ramadan 1420 AH. He issued two complete recorded recitations: al-Mushaf al-Murattal in 1424 AH and the California Khatma in 1430 AH, and he recorded versified texts of the qira'at and tajwid: the Shatibiyya in 2002, al-Durra in 2003, and al-Tuhfa al-Samnudiyya in 2006. ¹

He worked to revive the ten qira'at and spread them among people through his releases, his channel and his Quran services, and he judged many Quran competitions in America, France, Chechnya, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia; he is a jury member of the global Quran competition "Itr al-Kalam". ¹

Alafasy founded the Alafasy satellite channel, the first Kuwaiti Islamic channel; he is an adviser to the Arab Creators Union, owns the Alafasy Academy for the Quran in Malaysia, and supervises projects including the Alafasy Waqf, the Hafiz al-Quran project and the British Academy for Quranic Sciences. ¹

He presented Quran-teaching programmes including "Khalluna Ma'ah" and "Rattil ma'a al-Alafasy" in two parts, and "Maqamat", shown on MBC in Ramadan 1444 AH and on Kuwait Television, on his interest in nasheed and the maqamat. ¹

His nasheed work began in 2003 with the poem "Aya man yadda'i al-fahm", followed by his first nasheed album "Uyun al-Afa'i" in 2004 and a continuing series of albums including "Laysa al-Gharib" (2005), "Qalbi al-Saghir" (2007), "Dhikrayat" (2008), "Anaqid" (2009), "Tarahami ya Qulub" (2012), "Ya Razzaq" (2013) and "al-Murattil" (2018). He has also recorded nasheeds in languages other than Arabic, including Japanese, Turkish, English and French. ^{1 3}

In August 2025 he launched his first official Quran and prayer application, called Alafasy. ³

On 25 October 2008 Alafasy was awarded the first Arab Creativity Oscar by the Arab Creativity Union in Egypt, at an event sponsored by the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, in recognition, the article says, of his role in promoting Islamic principles and teachings. In 2012 he was named the best Quran reciter by About.com readers in its Readers' Choice Awards. ³

His honours also include the Gulf Cooperation Council medal and the title "ambassador of happiness", and his channel's first place as the most-watched religious channel in polls reported by the Arabic article. ¹

Alafasy's global fame rests on digital reach: the English article reports that his YouTube channel reached 11.6 million subscribers, that two of his nasheeds passed 200 million views, that his recitation of Surah al-Baqarah approached 100 million views, and that dozens of his recordings passed ten million views. Wikidata records 11.1 million subscribers for his channel at 14 April 2025, and he received YouTube's diamond play button in June 2024 for reaching ten million subscribers; these are dated platform figures, not fixed facts. ^{3 2} The channel, published under the handle @alafasy, is the one Wikidata records as his; a channel harvest recorded 12.2 million subscribers for it in October 2026, again a dated platform figure. ^{4 2}

• English Wikipedia, "Mishari bin Rashid Alafasy", revision of 30 July 2026.
• Arabic Wikipedia, «مشاري العفاسي», revision of 15 June 2026.
• Wikidata item Q948361.