Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat: Hero of War and Peace
Translated by: Menna Mohamed El-Badry
Reviewed by: Nouran Salah
Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat was born on December 25, 1918, to an Egyptian father and a mother of Sudanese descent in the village of “Mit Abu Al-Kum”, Menoufia governorate. He started his life in the school of the village, where he spent six years during which he was able to memorize all thirty parts of the Quran. Then, he moved to the Primary Coptic School in the village of Toukh Dalka next to his village, as there were no primary schools in his village at that time, and obtained his primary certificate from it.
Al-Sadat once said regarding this period, “The years I lived in the village before moving to the city will always, with its thoughts and memories, equip my soul and conscience with serenity and faith. There, I learned my first life lesson. I learned it from the kind and tolerant land that never withheld its crops and fruits from the people. I learned it from the clear and bright sky of our village. I believe that if I abandon the rural spirit that runs in my blood, I will totally fail in my life.” He then moved to Cairo after his father’s return from Sudan in the wake of the assassination of Sir Lee Stack, the British commander of the Egyptian army and governor-general of Sudan. One of the most significant sanctions that England imposed on Egypt was the withdrawal of the Egyptian army from Sudan. Sadat’s father returned with him and worked as a clerk in the military hospital. As for Sadat, he attended many schools in Cairo, such as The Islamic Charitable Society School in Zeitoun, Sultan Hussein School in Heliopolis, Fouad I Secondary School, and Ruqy Al-Maaref School in Shubra, from which he obtained his high school diploma.
In 1936, Mustafa El-Nahhas Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt, concluded the 1936 Treaty with Britain, allowing the Egyptian army to expand. As a result, Anwar Al-Sadat, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and a large group of symbols of the July Revolution entered the Military College.
Al-Sadat graduated from the Military College in 1938 and joined the infantry in Alexandria. In the same year, he was transferred to Manqabad, where he, for the first time, met President Gamal Abdel Nasser. On October 1, 1939, he was transferred to the signal corps. Due to his contacts with the Germans, he was arrested, and the Royal Decree was issued to dispense with the services of Captain Mohamed Anwar Sadat in 1942.
After being stripped of his military rank, Al-Sadat was taken to the foreigners' prison and from the foreigners' prison to the Maqousa internment camp, then to the Zeitoun internment camp near Cairo. He managed to flee the camp in 1944 and remained in hiding until 1945 when martial law was lifted, which meant the termination of his detention by law.
During his escape, Al-Sadat worked as a driver's assistant on a lorry. He also worked as a roustabout, transporting stones from Nile boats for paving. In 1945, he moved to the town of Abu Kabir in Al-Sharqia, where he participated in digging the Al-Sawy Canal.
In 1946, Amin Osman Pasha, the Minister of Finance during Moustafa el-Nahas' government, which had been imposed by the British military on February 4, 1942, was assassinated. He was more than a friend to the British. He even supported the British permanence in Egypt and was the originator of the “Catholic marriage” theory between Egypt and England. Twenty young men were accused in the case, including Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, the seventh defendant on the Prosecution's indictment list. He was charged with participating in the assassination of Amin Osman and, after spending 31 months in prison, was acquitted. Impoverished and straitened in life, Al-Sadat faced his life until he managed, in late 1948, with the assistance of the well-known writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous, to find a job as a newspaper editor for Al-Musawwar magazine at Al-Hilal Publishing House, which agreed to publish his prison diaries. He began writing a series of periodical articles entitled "30 Months in Prison." As an introduction to the first article of the diary, the magazine wrote:
“Captain Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat is one of the defendants in the political assassinations case alongside Hussein Tawfiq, and they were acquitted. Al-Sadat is the strongest in personality, the oldest in age, and the most cultured and experienced. He dedicated his days in prison to keeping diaries that truly depict life in jail. This is the first chapter of those memoirs, which we will publish successively.”
He engaged in some free enterprises and then came the utter surprise that changed the course of Anwar ِAl-Sadat's life. He managed, through an old friend named Youssef Rashad, a medical officer who became one of King Farouk's personal doctors, to return to the army on January 15, 1950, with the same rank he had left with, which was Captain, even though his peers had already been promoted to Major and Lieutenant Colonel. He was promoted to Major in 1950 and then to Lieutenant Colonel in 1951. In the same year, Abdel Nasser selected him as a member of the founding committee of the Free Officers Movement. Sadat participated in the July 1952 Revolution and delivered its declaration. His mission on the day of the revolution was to seize the radio station. He also escorted Mohamed Naguib to Alexandria to deliver the ultimatum from the army to the king to abdicate the throne.
In 1954, he became the Minister of State, then the Secretary-General of the Permanent Committee of the National Conference. He participated in founding "Al-Gomhuria" newspaper in 1955 and became its editor-in-chief. In 1957, he became the Secretary-General of the Islamic Conference, and in 1960, he was elected President of the National Assembly. In 1961, he became the President of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Council and a member of the Presidential Council in 1962. He visited the United States in 1966 as the President of the National Assembly. He was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Committee and the Secretary of the Political Affairs Committee of the Socialist Union in 1968. President Nasser also nominated him as the First Vice President of the Republic in 1969.
Sadat was elected President of the Republic, succeeding President Gamal Abdel Nasser, on October 17, 1970. He decided to wage the October War in 1973 to liberate the occupied land, and he personally supervised the battles. On November 19, 1977, he initiated his peace initiative to resolve the Middle East problem by visiting Jerusalem and delivering a speech at the Knesset. In 1978, he participated in the Camp David Peace Summit with US President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and in the same year, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He also founded the National Democratic Party and assumed its presidency.
On the afternoon of October 6, 1981, while attending the military parade to celebrate the anniversary of the October Victory, he was assassinated by the treacherous bullets of Khalid Al-Islambouli.
The late President Anwar Sadat wrote several books, including: "The Complete Story of the Revolution," "Unknown Pages from the Revolution," "My Son, This is Your Uncle Gamal," and "In Search of Identity."
English Langauge Coordinator: Asmaa Ahmed
