DEATH OF A STATESMAN - Keith W Stump - December 1981

Keith W Stump

Possibly no figure in Arab history has been more honored and more vilified than Anwar Sadat. Within Egypt and in many countries around the world, the death of Mr. Sadat was mourned as a blow to the cause of peace. But his Arab opponents greeted the news with jubilation. A man of unique qualities, Sadat did more than any other individual in modern history to change Western concepts of the Arab people. He was widely viewed as a moderating influence and stabilizing force in the volatile Middle East. Even many who publicly disagreed with him privately admired his courage and conviction. Anwar Sadat was born on December 25, 1918, in the poor Nile Delta village of Mit Abul Kom. The nearest bus route was a mile away. In his 1978 autobiography In Search of Identity, he proudly called himself "a peasant born and brought -up on the banks of the Nile." - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library