A Nation Divided: Egypt’s 1973 Victory and Its Aftermath
Every year on October 6, Egypt’s Armed Forces Day commemorates the 1973 war with a grand military parade in Cairo. The backdrop of the parade ground is a striking modern pyramid—the October War Memorial for fallen soldiers, also serving as Egypt’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This spectacle was orchestrated by President Anwar Sadat, who sought to cement his legacy as the “Hero of the Crossing” for leading Egyptian forces across the Suez Canal in a surprise attack against Israel.
Yet by the late 1970s, Egypt stood isolated in the Arab world. The 1978 Camp David Accords, which led to a peace treaty with Israel, provoked outrage among Arab states. The Arab League expelled Egypt, moving its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Sadat, undeterred, doubled down on celebrating the 1973 war as a national triumph, using the annual military parade to project strength and unity—even as his regional influence waned.
The Day the Guns Turned Inward: Sadat’s Assassination
On October 6, 1981, Sadat sat in full military regalia at the parade’s reviewing stand, flanked by cabinet members, foreign dignitaries, and senior officers. Tanks, missile launchers, and fighter jets roared past in a display of military might. Then, chaos erupted.
A military truck abruptly veered toward the stand. Four soldiers—later identified as members of the Islamist group Egyptian Islamic Jihad—leaped out, hurling grenades and firing automatic weapons into the crowd. Sadat was hit multiple times and died almost instantly. As pandemonium ensued, the lead assassin, Lieutenant Khalid al-Islambouli, shouted: “I have killed Pharaoh! I am not afraid to die!”
The assassination, broadcast live on television, stunned the world. A small group of Islamist militants had just toppled one of the Arab world’s most powerful leaders.
The Ideological Roots of Rebellion: From Sayyid Qutb to Islamic Jihad
The killers were inspired by the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian intellectual and Muslim Brotherhood theorist executed in 1966. Qutb’s manifesto, Milestones, argued that Muslim societies had fallen into jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance) by abandoning divine law for man-made governance. He called for a vanguard of true Muslims to overthrow secular regimes through jihad.
For Sadat’s assassins, labeling him a “Pharaoh” was deliberate. In the Quran, Pharaoh symbolizes tyranny—a ruler who places his own laws above God’s. By framing Sadat as a modern Pharaoh, they justified his murder as a religious duty.
The Aftermath: Crackdowns and the Rise of Mubarak
Vice President Hosni Mubarak, lightly wounded in the attack, swiftly assumed power. His regime cracked down on Islamist groups, executing Islambouli and his co-conspirators. Yet their martyrdom only fueled further radicalization. Throughout the 1980s, militant Islamist cells waged a low-intensity insurgency against the Egyptian state.
Sadat’s funeral underscored Egypt’s isolation. Three U.S. presidents—Nixon, Ford, and Carter—attended, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. But Arab representation was sparse, with only Sudan, Oman, and Somalia sending delegates. Even within Egypt, public mourning was muted. As journalist Mohamed Heikal noted: “A man mourned in the West as a hero and visionary was barely wept for by his own people.”
The Broader Struggle: Islamism vs. Secularism in the Arab World
Sadat’s assassination was part of a wider regional upheaval. In Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood waged a bloody insurrection against Hafez al-Assad’s secular Ba’athist regime, culminating in the 1982 Hama massacre, where thousands were killed. In Lebanon, the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah emerged, blending religious ideology with armed resistance against Israeli occupation.
Meanwhile, the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) became a rallying cry for global jihad. Arab volunteers, including a young Osama bin Laden, flocked to Afghanistan, forging networks that would later birth al-Qaeda.
Legacy: The Enduring Clash of Visions
The 1980s marked a turning point in the Arab world’s ideological battle. Secular nationalism, once dominant, now faced an assertive Islamist challenge. While most regimes suppressed militant groups, Islamist values—calls for Sharia law, conservative social norms—gained grassroots traction.
Sadat’s assassination demonstrated both the potency and limits of Islamist violence. Though militants could decapitate a regime, they lacked the mass support to seize power. Yet their vision of an Islamic state endured, shaping decades of conflict—from Algeria’s civil war to the rise of Hamas in Palestine.
Today, as authoritarian regimes and Islamist movements continue their struggle, the echoes of 1981 remain unmistakable. The question posed by Sadat’s killers—Should Muslim societies be governed by divine or man-made law?—still divides the Middle East.