Ismail al-Azhari
Ismail al-Azhari (Saiyid) (October 20, 1900 – August 26, 1969) (Arabic: إسماعيل الأزهري) was a Sudanese nationalist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Sudan between 1954 and 1956, and as President of Sudan from 1965 until he was overthrown by Gaafar Nimeiry in 1969.
Early life
Sayyid Ismail al-Azhari was born in Omdurman, the son of a religious notable. He studied at Gordon Memorial College in Khartoum and graduated in mathematics at the American University of Beirut in 1930. He became a teacher of mathematics and then an administrator in the Anglo-Egyptian condominium government that ruled the Sudan during the colonial period.
Entry into politics
Al-Azhari and other educated Sudanese demanded greater participation in the administration of the country, and to promote their objectives they formed the Graduates' General Congress in 1938. Al-Azhari's election as secretary to the congress launched him into a career in politics.
Although the congress at first had no political aspirations, in 1942 it asserted its claim to act as the spokesman for all Sudanese nationalists. When the wartime British administration rejected this claim, the congress split into two groups: the moderates, who were prepared to work with the British toward full independence, and a more extreme group, led by al-Azhari, which distrusted the British and sought unity with Egypt in the post-colonial period.
