Raad Al-Kurdi

Raad Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Salih al-Kurdi is a Kurdish Iraqi Quran reciter and hafiz, born in Kirkuk on 16 April 1991. He became imam of the Imam al-Shafi'i Mosque in Kirkuk at the age of fifteen and remains its imam; he is invited, especially in Ramadan, to lead prayers at mosques in the Emirates, and he became known worldwide through the recitations published on his YouTube channel. ^{1 2 3}

No English or Arabic Wikipedia article exists for Raad al-Kurdi as of the check date (24 October 2026); this entry rests on the Urdu and Sorani Kurdish Wikipedia articles and his Wikidata item — thinner sources than those of others in this lane, and the entry is correspondingly shorter. ^{1 2}

Raad al-Kurdi grew up in Kirkuk in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and lives there. As a child he took part in many Quran competitions and won first place in several of them. At fifteen he became imam of the Imam al-Shafi'i Mosque in Kirkuk, and he is still its imam. ^{1 2}

He holds an ijaza in Quran recitation, having recited the whole Quran to Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Fadl al-Mashhadani with a chain of transmission in the narrations of Hafs and Shu'ba from Asim, and he graduated from the Institute of Imams and Preachers in Kirkuk. ¹

Alongside his imamate in Kirkuk, Raad al-Kurdi is invited from time to time — especially in Ramadan — to lead prayers in the Emirates, at the Ahmed al-Habbai Mosque in Dubai and the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, while continuing as imam of the Imam al-Shafi'i and Bahesht (Paradise) mosques in Sulaymaniyah, according to the Sorani article. ^{2 1}

His voice spread worldwide through recitation clips on YouTube, some of which have been watched by millions according to the Sorani article, and on 1 January 2021 a documentary film about his life story and his path to recitation was released on his official channel, directed by Rawa Jamal. Wikidata records 3.69 million subscribers for his YouTube channel at 1 October 2025, and 2.65 million subscribers with some 344.5 million views at 20 December 2020; these are dated platform figures. ^{2 3}

His official YouTube channel (@RadMohammad) carries his recitations to his worldwide audience; the museum verified on 25 October 2026 that the channel presents itself as 'the official channel of the reciter Raad Muhammad al-Kurdi'. ⁴

• Urdu Wikipedia, «رعد محمد الکردی», revision of 13 March 2025.
• Sorani Kurdish Wikipedia, «ڕەعد کوردی», revision of 20 February 2023.
• Wikidata item Q56871542.