Sulayman Hafez was an Egyptian lawyer and politician. Hafez drafted the abdication letter of King Farouk and negotiated his stepping down following the

Egyptian Revolution of 1952 The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état () and the 23 July Revolution (), was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952, the revolution began with the toppling of King ...

.Kandil, p. 27. In early 1953, following the revolution, Hafez was selected by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) to serve as both Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister in the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Naguib, the senior officer who took part in the overthrow of King Farouk. He handpicked all but two of the ministers in the cabinet and his relatively young appointees consisted of technocrats, members of the youth wing of the Nationalist Party of Fathi Radwan and two associates of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

. Hafez became one of the chief antagonist against the

Wafd Party The Wafd Party (; , ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist Liberalism, liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930s. During th ...

in Egypt following the revolution. He sought to have

Mustafa el-Nahhas Mostafa el-Nahas Pasha or Mostafa Nahas (; June 15, 1879 – August 23, 1965) was an Egyptians, Egyptian politician who served as the Prime Minister for five terms. Early life, education and exile He was born in Samanud (Gharbia Governorat ...

ousted as the party's president, penning a letter on behalf of the revolutionary officers that described el-Nahhas as a "tumour in the body politic." At the time, there were sharp internal divisions within the party, with the young guard seeking to show more flexibility towards the officers and viewing the old guard, represented by el-Nahhas, as being out of touch. El-Nahhas had refused to negotiate the party's renewal of license with President Naguib as long as party veteran Fouad Serageddin remained imprisoned. However, he eventually relented after significant defections from the party and submitted the application to Hafez's interior ministry.Gordon, p. 73. Hafez, a major legal figure prior the revolution, was among the law-based civilian allies of Naguib, which also included

Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri Abd el-Razzak el-Sanhuri or ‘Abd al-Razzāq el-Sanhūrī () (11 August 1895 – 21 July 1971) was an Egyptian jurist, law professor, judge and politician. He is best remembered as the primary author of the revised Egyptian Civil Code of 1948. E ...

. Naguib's appointment of Hafez to the interior ministry, which was responsible for domestic security among other tasks, was seen by later historians as weakening his hand.

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, the officer who led the revolution, managed to take advantage of the appointment by easily managing to appoint himself to both of Hafez's positions in June 1953, amid the growing rivalry between Nasser and Naguib. Hafez then became the official legal adviser Naguib.Kandil, p. 39. While Naguib drew on constitutional lawyers and the leaders of pre-revolutionary political parties, Nasser surrounded himself with his fellow officers. Hafez resigned from his advisory position on 27 March 1954 as tensions between Nasser and Naguib escalated.

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Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hafez, Sulayman 20th-century Egyptian lawyers Interior ministers of Egypt