PROFILE
"The Naughty Boy":
Mahmoud El-Saedany
By Ahmed S. Toughan & Talaat I.
Farag
Photos by Hamdy Hamada
Our 76-year-old, sincere friend the "Naughty Boy" is a truly unique and exceptional personality. He has had one of the most remarkable careers in journalism and has become a celebrity with millions of readers throughout the Arab world awaiting to read his weekly articles in Akhbar El-Yom (on Saturdays) and Al-Mosawir Magazine (on Thursdays). He is the author of more than 20 books and thousands of articles published in different Arab magazines and newspapers. He was the Chief Editor of Sabah El-Kheir (Good Morning), one of the most famous Arabic weekly magazines published by Rose El-Yousif and for the 23 July Weekly Magazine founded in London during the 1970s, which disappeared after 40 issues. His series of books entitled, Naughty Boy, not only described his 60-year difficult journey in journalism but also his life as a political prisoner and 100-month exile from Egypt during President Sadat's era, whom he met for the first time in Giza in the 1940s and worked with him in 1950s in Al-Gomhorria daily newspaper. This Naughty Boy became very famous as a result of this series of books which show that he is not an entertainer but a satirical novelist and writer with a clear philosophy as a solid and optimistic fighter for human rights and freedom of speech.
Who is the "Naughty Boy"?
In his Naughty Boy books, three famous Egyptian writers, Kamel Al-Shinawy, Mohamed Ooda, and Ragae Al-Na'ash mentioned that these books record the history of Egypt and the July 23 Revolution of 1952 since Saadany lived the eras of King Fouad, King Farouk, Presidents Mohamed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. His job as the Head of the Arab Section in Al-Gomhorria newspaper in the 1950s helped him a lot to communicate with all the Arab leaders and all political parties. including Akram Al-Hourani (head of the Arab Socialist Party), Sudanese UNESCO director Mohy El-Din Saber, and the Baath Party ideologist Michel Aflaq. He discussed with Aflaq and wrote about the differences between the Baath Party's motto; "Unity, Freedom and Socialism", and President Nasser's philosophy of "Freedom, Socialism, and Unity" since the Naughty Boy is convinced that freedom must come before unity. He also recalls having met with Saddam Hussein in a small coffee job while he was a student in Cairo and noting his absolute silence!
The Naughty Boy is a serial political prisoner, having being jailed three times for contradictory reasons. He mentions in his books that he was imprisoned because when he was in Damascus in 1958 during the United Arab Republic era, the Syrian Communist Party gave him a confidential sealed letter to forward to President Nasser. He was delighted to give this letter to Anwar Sadat, chief editor of Al-Gomhorria at that time. He was 'awarded' with 2 years in prison, since the letter contained a warning from the Syrian Communist Party to President Nasser against their unity with the governing Baath Party in Syria! In retrospect to this incident, Saadany wrote about his three different prison experiences in his book, The Naughty Boy in Prison, as well as his experience in exile in The Naughty Boy in Exile.
Saadany never forgot his daughter Hala's diagnosis with poliomyelitis in her right leg in 1959 while he was in prison which required 23 operations. He was grateful that the British surgeon Dr. Donald Brooks in London operated on his daughter free of charge, who himself has suffered the same illness during his childhood. He was also very grateful for the support of Sheikh Zayid Al-Nahyan, President of UAE. Interestingly now, Hala works as an anchor for one of the Egyptian TV stations. The Naughty Boy's only son, a journalist at Rose El-Yousif magazine, was named Akram, after the name of the head of the Syrian Arab Socialist Party. His other three daughters Amal, Hanan and Heba also work in journalism and media following in his footsteps.
The "Naughty Boy" between his old friends Mr. Toughan and Dr.
Farag.
The "Naughty Boy" Satirical Writings
Mahmoud Saadany's famous column entitled, Haza Al-Ragul ("This Man") was published weekly in Sabah El-Kheir during the 1960s and during his exile period in the 1970s, it was published in the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Siyasa. This column was his means to criticizing political, economic and social events both at the national and international level. He failed to write any books during his exile period. All his books were born in Egypt since he has strong ties and a bond with Giza city. He always mentions its people, cafes, and friends especially Haj Ibrahim Nafi'e, one of the farmers in that region, in his books. Interestingly, the Noble laureate Naguib Mahfouz, lived his entire life and wrote his stories about Al-Azhar district and its people.
It is very difficult for us to portray our friend, Mahmoud El-Saadany without mentioning that his extraverted personality, sense of humor, and photographic memory which succeeded to influence his lifestyle, his writings and his career. His books demonstrate how he is a gifted writer with encyclopedic knowledge and special philosophical thoughts. He has the ability to present the characters' portraits and dissects their personalities very accurately as if he were an experienced psychologist. In his book, The Naughty Boy in Prison for example, he describes in extreme details the political prisoners, drug dealers, murders, thieves, police officers, soldiers and others which he had met in jail, discussing both the political, economic and social hardships they faced. When analyzing Saadany's writings, we raise the question whether his character resonates with that of Robin Hood and Arsin Lopin, who fought for the marginalized people?!
After May 15, 1971
In his Naughty Boy series he talks about his dismissal from his job and imprisonment three times for the following completely different reasons respectively: Firstly because he criticized the July 23 revolution asking for more democracy, secondly because he was neutral on the matter and finally because of his jokes on President Sadat's political purge of opposition parties in May 15, 1971. However in the last time, after his release, he left Egypt for 100 months to seek refuge. He mentioned in his books how the chief editor of Al-Siyasa daily Kuwaiti newspaper, Ahmed Al-Garrala, was very supportive during his exile. During this time, Saadany traveled everywhere as a writer, visiting most of the world's nations with exception to those in Oceania and South America.
During President Mubarak's era, the Naughty Boy returned to Egypt and immediately went to visit Giza city, its people, cafes and streets as well as the grave of his mother, who had died during his time in jail. He once again was back to writing in Akhbar El-Yom and in Al-Mosawar magazine. He analyzes also the different political systems and struggles in the Arab world. Aside from his political writings, he has books about soccer and also about Quranic recitals (Alhan Min Al-Sama' - Hymns from Heaven) which are his bestsellers. The Naughty Boy also established a journalists club on the Nile in Giza, in which many intellectuals, writers and academic tourists visit to discuss many issues till the break of dawn.
"A Donkey from the East" and "America ya Weeka"
To those interested in studying the Middle East and its civil society, it would best be found in Saadany's two books entitled, "A Donkey from the East" and "America ya Weeka" published in Arabic by Akhbar El-Yom. In the former, he writes a satirical dialogue between a Western female anthropologist and himself, who considered the Naughty Boy as representing a lost Eastern racial group. In the latter book, he describes the USA as a gathering of extremes in all fields and lifestyles (eg. medicine, science, art, music, economics, sports, and crimes).
The "Naughty Boy" in Zawyit Razeen
We recently went to a small lucky village in Munofia governate named Zawyit Razeen, with our sincere friend the Naughty Boy last February, to visit the local hospital, school, and orphanage established by our mutual friend the former Minister of Health & Population, Prof. Ismail Sallam in his hometown. During the visit to the orphanage, we were able to discover the real Naughty Boy. He was very touched by the orphaned boys and girls, and we saw his tears for the first time. Prof. Wafia Eteiba, the wife of Prof. Sallam was very touched to see Saadany with the orphaned children. This was astonishing to both of us, how this very strong personality who succeeded to fight with his satirical comments and jokes the agonizing times in prison and exile, has a very kind heart. This encouraged us to consider this article chronicling in brief terms the Naughty Boy's life but is little more than an introduction to his profile. In the next issue, we will present the story of our friend, the Naughty Man, Mahmoud El-Saadany, the writer, novelist, editor, politician and the fighter for freedom and the marginalized people everywhere.
The "Naughty Boy" between his friends Mr. Toughan and
HE Prof. Ismail Sallam in Zawyit Razeen.
Ahmed S. Toughan is an international cartoonist. He is one of the founders of the Egyptian Al-Gomhorria Daily Newspaper in 1952. Email: toughan1@hotmail.com.
Dr. Talaat I. Farag, MD, FRCP(E), FACP, FACMG, is a community geneticist and syndromologist. He is the founder of The Ambassadors Research Foundation in 1998. Email: drfarag@ambassadors.net.
Hamdy Hamada is a journalist and photographer.
