The Egyptian Radio decided today, Thursday, to cease dealings with the famous reciter Mohamed Selkawy due to multiple errors made during the recitation of the Quran this morning. Mohamed Nawwar, the head of Egyptian Radio, confirmed to "Al Arabiya.net" that such errors will not be tolerated, indicating that the reciter made a severe mistake, and that the matter will be referred to a panel of reciters, where he might face a permanent suspension due to the frequency of his errors.
Listeners of the Quran Radio were surprised when the reciter during the dawn prayer on the general program network and Quran Radio committed a series of errors, including distorting Quranic verses, breaking the rules of Tajweed, and incorrect recitation styles. The listeners urged for an investigation into those responsible for the radio and called for reconsideration in hiring reciters who have demonstrated disrespect towards the Quran and its recitation manners.
Former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf, Saad Al-Faqi, revealed to "Al Arabiya.net" details about the mistakes committed by the famous reciter, which included altering words and replacing them with others of different meanings, as well as omitting words and changing the diacritical markings of letters. He noted that the reciter misread the verse "ويحل لهم الطيباتِ" as "الطيباتُ", the verse "ويضع عنهم إصْرَهم" was read as "إصرَارَهم" five times with the same error, the verse "ويحرم عليهم الخبائث" came out as "ويحرم الخبائث", and "لا إله إلا هو" was read as "الذي لا إله إلا هو". He also indicated that when reciting the word "أنجينا", it was incorrectly read as "أنجونا" before being corrected.
It is noteworthy that the Syndicate of Quran Memorization and Recitation in Egypt had previously suspended this reciter twice due to his mistakes and decided to remove his name from the list of external radios and Quran recordings for six months following an error he made during Friday Quran recitation from Al-Hussein Mosque in the Al-Manakh neighborhood of Port Said, during celebrations of the province’s national day in the presence of senior officials, a year ago. During that recitation, Selkawy made a mistake by skipping two verses unintentionally and refused to return to them despite being prompted.
Additionally, the controversial reciter was suspended the year before last after a video circulated in which he was reciting verses from Surah Ash-Shura and exhibiting inappropriate movements during a mourning ceremony. At that time, social media witnessed an uproar of anger following the spread of the video, which showed the reciter dancing and making gestures with his hands and body during the recitation.
