Native name عباس محمود العقاد Ethnicity Arab Religion Islam Role Journalist | Nationality Egyptian Occupation writer Name Abbas al-Aqqad | |
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Born 28 June 1889 Aswan, Egypt Died March 13, 1964, Cairo, Egypt Books The Genius of Mohammed, Sarah, The Genius of Umar | ||
Abbās Mahmūd al-Aqqād (Arabic: عباس محمود العقاد ʿAbbās Maḥmūd al-ʿAqqād; 28 June 1889 – 12 March 1964) was an Egyptian journalist, poet and literary critic, and member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo.
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Biography
Al-'Aqqad was born in Aswan, a city in Upper Egypt, in 1889. He received little formal education, completing only his elementary education; he later supplemented his learning by buying books and reading on his own. Unlike his schoolmates, he spent all his weekly allowance on books. He read about religion, geography, history and many other subjects. He was known for his excellent English and French.
Al-'Aqqad was also an outspoken political thinker, and was jailed for a time between 1930 and 1931 for his criticism of his country's government. In 1942 when the forces of Adolf Hitler advanced on Egypt, al-'Akkad fled to Sudan due to fear of reprisal for his criticism of Hitler. At the height of Hitler's military advances, al-'Akkad wrote his scathing work Hitler in the Balance in June 1940 in which he lambasts Naziism as the greatest threat to freedom, modernity and the very existence of man. In addition to his general opposition to both fascism and communism, al-'Akkad was also both a member of the Egyptian parliament for a time as a member of the Wafd Party, and later a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
He wrote more than 100 books about philosophy, religion, and poetry, along with a philosophical study of the Qur'an and various biographies of historic Muslim leaders. He founded a poetry school with Ibrahim Al-Mazny and Abdel Rahman Shokry called Al-Diwan. He died in 1964 in Cairo. His most famous works were al-'Abkariat, Allah, and Sarah. Some of his books were translated into English. Al-'Akkad was known for his use of flowery and complicated prose.
Romantic relationships
Al-Aqqad experienced two major romantic relationships in his life. The first was with a Christian Lebanese lady, whom he called "Sarah" in his novel of the same name. The second was with the famous Egyptian actress Madiha Yousri. This relationship was ended by al-Aqqad himself, because of Yousri's career as an actress. Al-Aqqad wrote a poetry work about this relationship called Cyclones of a Sunset (A-Asiru Maghrib in Arabic).
It was reported by prolific Egyptian author Anis Mansour and various other attendees of Al-Aqqad's famous 'lounge' that he kept a painting in his bedroom that displayed a beautiful cake with cockroaches crawling over it. Supposedly, Al-Aqqad kept this in his room as 'the first thing he looked at in the morning and the last thing he saw in the evening'. It symbolized beauty and purity (the cake) that is wasted to the glamor of spotlights (the cockroaches) as was the case (as he perceived) with actress Madiha Yousri.
Death
Al Aqqad died in the early morning of 13 March 1964. His corpse was transported by train to his hometown Aswan in southern Upper Egypt, where he was buried the same day.
In the early 1980s, an Egyptian television series was produced about the life of al-Aqqad, which was titled The Giant (Al Imlaq in Arabic). It starred Egyptian actor Mahmud Mursi.
There is a street in the Nasr City district of Cairo named after al-Aqqad.