Jihan al-Sadat

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Jihan al-Sadat (2006)

Jihan as-Sadat , English spelling also Jehan (el-) Sadat ( Arabic جيهان السادات Jihan as-Sadat , DMG Ǧīhān as-Sādāt , *  August 29,  1933 as Jehan Safwat Raouf in Cairo ; †  July 9, 2021 ) was a civil rights activist and the widow of Anwar as-Sadat . She was Egypt's First Lady from 1970 until Sadat's assassination in 1981.

Early years

Jehan Safwat Raouf (Arabic: Jīhān Safwat Raʾūf /جيهان صفوت رؤوف) was born the third child and first girl of Safwat Raouf, an Egyptian surgeon, and the English music teacher Gladys Cotterill, daughter of Charles Henry Cotterill, a police officer from Sheffield . The family belonged to the lower middle class. At her father's request, she was raised Muslim, but attended a Christian-run secondary school for girls in Cairo.

As a teenager she was fascinated by Anwar Sadat, who was a national hero, and followed media coverage of his exploits, valor and loyalty, and determination to fight back against the British occupation of Egypt. She heard many stories about him from her cousin, whose husband had been his companion in the resistance and later in prison.

She first met her future husband Anwar Sadat on her 15th birthday. He had recently been released from prison, where he had been incarcerated for two and a half years for his resistance activities against King Farouk .

Jihan and Sadat married on May 29, 1949 despite delay and objections from their parents. At first they found it difficult to come to terms with the fact that their daughter wanted to marry an unemployed revolutionary. The marriage resulted in three daughters (Lubna, Noha and Jehan) and a son (Gamal).

First lady

Jihan al-Sadat (in the background) with her husband and US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance , 1980

During the 32 years of marriage, Jihan was a helpful partner to her politically aspiring husband, who was to become President of Egypt. She later used her position as first lady to improve the living conditions of millions of Egyptians, and in her role she served as a role model for women worldwide. She helped change the image of Arab women in the world by fulfilling their own desires through volunteer work and participation in non-governmental organizations for the disadvantaged.

Voluntary work

Jihan played a key role in reforming Egyptian civil rights in the late 1970s. There were now expanded statutes , often called Jehan's Laws . They guaranteed women a variety of new rights, including child support and child custody after a divorce.

After visiting wounded soldiers at the front in Suez during the Six Day War in 1967, she founded the al Wafa 'Wa Amal rehabilitation center , which provided disabled war veterans with medical care, reintegration assistance and professional training. The center is supported by donations from all over the world. Today it supports visually impaired children, has a world-famous music band and a choir.

She played a crucial role in founding the Talla Society, a cooperation in the Nile Delta region that helps women there to become independent; also in founding the Egyptian Society for Cancer Patients, the Egyptian Blood Bank and the SOS Children's Villages in Egypt.

She led the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations International Women's Conference in Mexico City and Copenhagen and founded the Arab-African Women's League. As an activist , she has organized and participated in numerous conferences around the world that dealt with women's rights, child and youth protection and peace in Africa , Asia , Europe , North and South America .

degrees

Later years

Jihan as-Sadat was a senior researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park , where the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development was founded, at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management . She published an autobiography, I am a woman from Egypt , also under a pseudonym Poetry in Arabic. In March 2009 she published another book called My Hope for Peace .

As-Sadat died on July 9, 2021 at the age of 87.

Awards and honors

  • Jihan has received numerous national and international awards for its public service and humanitarian efforts for women and children.
  • She has received more than 20 honorary doctorates from colleges and universities around the world.
  • In 1993 she received the Community of Christ International Peace Award .
  • In 1997 she received the Theodor Haecker Prize for political courage and sincerity from the city of Esslingen am Neckar.
  • In 2001 she won the Pearl S. Buck Award.

Positions

literature

  • Jehan Sadat: I am a woman from Egypt , the autobiography of an extraordinary woman of our time (Original edition: A Woman of Egypt. Simon and Schuster, 1987) Translated from English by Gisela Stege. License edition: Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-453-04599-8
  • Jehan Sadat: My Hope for Peace , With a foreword by Helmut Schmidt , Hoffmann and Campe, 2009, ISBN 3-455-50126-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jehan Sadat: Interview with Diane Rehm. "The Diane Rehm Show." ( April 2, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ) National Public Radio. WAMU, Washington, DC. March 30, 2009
  2. ↑ Jehan Sadat, widow of Egyptian president who made peace with Israel, dies at 87. The Times of Israel , July 9, 2021, accessed on the same day.
  3. ↑ https://www.arabnews.com/node/1891281/middle-east
personal data
SURNAME Sadat, Jihan as-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sadat, Jehan el-; Raouf, Jehan Safwat (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Egyptian first lady
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Cairo
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2021