Hafiz Ibrahim

Mohamed Hafez Ibrahim (1872–1932) was an Egyptian poet dubbed the "Poet of the Nile", and sometimes the "Poet of the People", for his political commitment to the poor. His poetry took up the concerns of ordinary Egyptians — women's rights, poverty, education — and criticised the British Empire and foreign occupation. ^{1 2}

He was one of the Egyptian poets who revived classical Arabic poetry in the latter half of the nineteenth century, keeping the classical system of metre and rhyme while writing on new ideas and feelings. ¹

He was born on 24 February 1872 at Dayrut in Asyut, on a boat moored on the Nile according to the Arabic article; his father was an Egyptian engineer and his mother Turkish. The year is not fully settled: the English article's lead spans 1871–1932 and Wikidata carries a year-precision birth value of 1871 alongside the exact date, so the museum records the year as debated. ^{1 2 3} After his father's death, when he was four, he was raised in Tanta and then Cairo under the care of his maternal uncle, and completed his schooling between the two cities. ^{1 2}

In 1888 he entered the Military Academy and graduated three years later as a lieutenant. Appointed by the Ministry of Interior, he was deployed to Sudan in 1896 as part of Egypt's Sudan campaign; there he and several colleagues were involved in a protest against the mistreatment of the Sudanese, and he was court-martialled and sent back to Egypt. ¹

By 1911 he had been appointed head of the literary section of Dar al-Kutub, the Egyptian National Library, and the Minister of Education bestowed on him the title "Bey", which gave him financial stability. He joined the circle of neoclassical poets around Ahmad Shawqi and Mahmoud Sami el-Baroudi. ^{1 2}

His poems include "Masr tatakallam 'an nafsiha" (Egypt Talks About Herself) and "Albasuka al-dima' fawq al-dima'" (They've Dressed You in Blood Upon Blood). In prose he wrote Layali Satih, a work of social criticism. He is also known for his Arabic translation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, published in 1903. ^{1 2}

He died in Cairo on 21 June 1932 and was buried in the Sayyida Nafisa cemeteries. Wikidata carries an alternative death date of 31 July 1932, which conflicts with all three articles and is not followed. ^{1 2 3} A statue of him by Faruq Ibrahim stands on Gezira Island in Cairo. ¹