Muhammad Hassanein Heikal

Muhammad Hassanein Heikal was one of the most influential journalists and writers in the Arab world. He started his career as a reporter for the Egyptian Gazette in 1943, and later joined the weekly Ros Al Yussef. He became a close friend of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of the 1952 revolution and the president of Egypt from 1956 to 1970. Heikal was appointed as the editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram, the semiofficial newspaper of Egypt, in 1957. He transformed Al-Ahram into a newspaper of record for the Arab world, with his weekly analytical pieces on regional and international affairs. He also served as a member of the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union, the ruling party of Egypt, and as a minister of national guidance in 1970. Heikal resigned from his government and media positions in 1974, after clashing with Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sadat, over the direction of Egypt’s policies. He became a freelance journalist and a prolific author of books on Egyptian and Arab history, politics, and culture. He wrote about Nasser, Sadat, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iranian revolution, the Gulf War, and the Arab Spring. He was also a frequent guest on Al Jazeera, where he hosted a series of lectures on world events entitled Ma’a Heikal (With Heikal). Heikal died in 2016 at the age of 92, after suffering from kidney failure. He was widely regarded as a witness and a chronicler of the modern history of Egypt and the Arab world.