Abdel Halim Muhammad

, birth_place = Omdurman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
, death_date =
, death_place = Khartoum, Sudan
, birth_date = 10 April 1910
, occupation = Physician
Civil Servant
Writer
Political activist
, native_name = عبد الحليم محمد عبد الحليم
, native_name_lang = ar
, module =
, known_for = Father of medicine in Sudan
, awards = El Neelain Order
Righteous Son of Sudan Order
Honorary life president of CAF
Honorary life member of the IOC
FIFA Order of Merit
, education = Omdurman Primary School
Gordon Memorial College
Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum ( DKSM)
University of Khartoum ( MD)
, honorific_suffix = FRCP
, honorific_prefix = Dr
, spouse = Khalda Ahmed Khalil

Abdel Halim Mohamed Abdel Halim (, 10 April 1910–16 April 2009) was a Sudanese physician, writer, political activist, civil servant, and sport administrator.

Born in Omdurman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, into a family of scholars, writers and politician, and a grandfather who was a Mahdist prince and military leader. Abdel Halim was Khalwa educated before entering Omdurman Primary School, and then graduating Gordon Memorial College, followed by a DKSM at Kitchener School of Medicine. He was medically trained between Khartoum and London before becoming the first Sudanese senior physician, director of Omdurman Teaching Hospital and Khartoum Teaching Hospital, chairman of the University Khartoum council, and member and Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians.

Abdel Halim participated in founding the Graduates' General Congress, which later drafted the first memorandum demanding independence from the Anglo-Egyptian occupation. Abdel Halim was also a member of the Committee of Sovereignty of Sudan from December 1964 to July 1965, which presided over the interim coalition Government that paved the way for general elections. In addition, he was the first president of the University of Khartoum council after independence and mayor of Khartoum.

Abdel Halim was one of the founders of the Confederation of African Football and the president of the Sudanese Football Association, Sudanese Equestrian Association, Sudanese National Olympic Committee and Sudanese Basketball Association. He served as the third president of the Confederation of African Football from 1968 to 1972 and 1987 to 1988. He stood firm against South Africa and Rhodesia sport-segregation policies and refused to allow their teams to play unless it was mixed.

Abdel Halim received national and international accolades. He is remembered as the ‘''Father of medicine in Sudan''’, and Sudanese historian and scholar Mansour Khalid nicknamed him the ‘wise Sheikh’ due to his political advisory and impartiality. He passed away in Khartoum, aged 99.

Early life

Abdel Halim Mohamed Abdel Halim Musaad Hashim ( ar, عبد الحليم محمد عبد الحليم مساعد هاشم) was born in Omdurman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, on 10 April 1910 into the ‘''Hashmab''’ family, a family of scholars, writers and politicians with a pedigree equal to many of the gentry. Abdel Halim was named after his grandfather, a Mahdist prince and military leader, who played a decisive role in the defeat of the British colonel Hicks Pasha in the battle of Shaykan in 1883, the siege and fall of Khartoum in 1885, and died at the Battle of Toski on 3 August 1889 .

Abdel Halim grow up with a Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which led to the failure of one of his lungs in his youth.

Education

Like many at that time, Abdel Halim started his education at a Quranic school (''Khalwa'') before entering Omdurman Primary School. He then went to Gordon Memorial College (today University Khartoum) in 1924, into accountancy, before attending Kitchener School of Medicine (today Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum) (1929–1933) and graduated top of his class with Diploma of Kitchener School of Medicine ( DKSM).

Abdel Halim started his medical training as a house physician at Khartoum Teaching Hospital (1933–1934) and then as a medical registrar (1935–1938). He then continued his training in medicine and cardiology at Hammersmith Hospital, London, in 1939. Due to the Second World War, he had to return to the Khartoum Teaching Hospital to work as an assistant to the senior physician. Still, after the war, he returned to the UK to finish his medicine and cardiology training.

Medical career

Abdel Halim became the first Sudanese director of Omdurman Teaching Hospital (1950) and Khartoum Teaching Hospital (1954–1964). He was appointed senior physician to the Ministry of Health in 1953. He expanded these hospitals to include respiratory, cardio, neurology, neurosurgery and dermatology services and organised the building of the Al Shaab Teaching Hospital. Abdel Halim also taught at the Kitchener School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum after independent.

Abdel Halim was a council member of the Gordon Memorial College from 1952, before becoming the first Sudanese chairman of the University Khartoum council, after Sudan independent in 1956. He held the position until he retired from medical duties in 1965.

Abdel Halim was a founding president of the Sudanese Medical Association (1949–1965). He was one of the first Sudanese physicians to become a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1948, and to be elected a Fellow ( FRCP) in 1962. In 1965, Abdel Halim received an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Khartoum.

Medical legacy

In the past, when investigative techniques were crude, Abdel Halim was a superb medical diagnostician and an inspiring instructor. His medical ward rounds provided a platform for rigorous medical instruction, poetry, high-flying prose, Sudanese proverbs, and Qur’anic verses, in flawless classical Arabic and perfect English, everything was communicated with style and humour. Abdel Halim is remembered as the ‘''Father of medicine in the Sudan''’.

Literary and political activism

''Al Fajr''

With his cousin Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub; Abdel Halim founded the ‘''Hashmab society''’, which advocated for education and enlightenment in Sudan. At the end of 1920s, the society evolved to become ‘''Al Fajr''’ (the Dawn, ) society which established its own magazine in 1934 that was committed to Sudanese folklore, culture and nationalist movements. Abdel Halim regularly contributed to ‘''Al Fajr''’ magazine under a pen name. In a book published by Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub and Abdel Halim, titled “''Death of a world''” (Mot Donia ), which advocated personal sacrifice for the national cause. They wrote in its introduction:

Graduates' General Congress

Abdel Halim was among the founders of the Graduates' General Congress in 1938 that went later on to draft the first memorandum in 1942, demanding independence from the Anglo-Egyptian occupation. Abdel Halim was the political adviser and confidant to Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, one of the leading religious and political figures during the colonial era in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

After Sudan independent

In 1956, Abdel Halim became the president of Khartoum District Council and mayor of Khartoum until 1960.

After the overthrow of General Ibrahim Abboud dictatorship in 1964, Abdel Halim served as a member of the first and second Committee of Sovereignty, from 3 December 1964 to 8 July 1965 which presided over the interim coalition Government that paved the way for general elections.

Political legacy

During his life, Abdel Halim distanced himself from partisan politics. Fadwa Abdel Rahman Ali Taha, Sudanese historian and scholar, emphasised that, after Sudan's independence, Abdel Halim felt that much could have been achieved if the Graduates' General Congress movement had stayed on course and not been overwhelmed by the intense division between political parties. Mansour Khalid, Sudanese historian and scholar, nicknamed Abdel Halim the ‘wise Sheikh’.

Abdel Halim received ''El Neelain'' ''Order'' () and the ''Righteous Son of Sudan Order'' () .

Sports administration

Abdel Halim was the president of Sudan Football Association (1953), Sudan Basketball Association (1960), Sudan Equestrian Association, and Sudan Olympic Committee (1956–1958 and 1964–1970). He was a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1968 until 1982.

CAF and FIFA

Abdel Halim was behind the idea of forming an African football association, and he was one of the founders of the Confederation of African Football, which was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan by the national football associations of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Sudan, following formal discussions between the aforementioned associations at the FIFA Congress held on 7 June 1956 at Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. He served as the third president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from 1968 to 1972. Upon Yidnekatchew Tessema sudden illness and death in 19 August 1987, Abdel Halim served as the (fifth) president of the CAF until 10 March 1988 when the general assembly was held in Casablanca and Issa Hayatou was elected president of CAF.

Abdel Halim was the first African to be elected as a member of the executive council of the International Association Football Federation ( FIFA) (1958–1962), and later became the head of the medical department of FIFA in 1966.

Sport activism

In 1970, as CAF president, Abdel Halim secured the vote to suspend Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) FIFA membership due to their sport-segregation policies. This came years after the CAF expel the Rhodesia Football Association from membership, only four days after the country's unilateral declaration of independence on 11 November 1965. The CAF was again the first International sports institution to do so after CAF expelled Apartheid South Africa in 1957, before the first African Cup of Nations, which was in Sudan, promoting further tension with FIFA which accused the CAF of mixing sport with politics. Abdel Halim pushed and succeed in including African nations to 1970 FIFA World Cup, after 36 years of absence since Egypt participation in 1934 FIFA World Cup.

As Abdel Halim led the African boycott to 1976 Summer Olympics which was in Montreal because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured apartheid South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo. Abdel Halim joined the boycott of 1980 Summer Olympics, which was in Moscow, as a protest against the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan.

Sporting legacy

Abdel Halim stood firm against South Africa and Rhodesia sport-segregation policies and refused to allow their teams to play unless it was mixed. According to el-Keer el-Moutasim, Sudanese sport historian, Abdel Halim took out a loan on his own house to fund the 1970 African Cup of Nations, which was in Sudan, when official funding was delayed.

Abdel Halim was made honorary life member of the International Olympic Committee in 1989, and honorary life president of CAF. In 1994, he received FIFA Order of Merit. However, due to personal disputes with Kamal Shaddad, President of Sudan Football Association (SFA) (2001-2021), Abdel Halim was not honoured during his life or posthumously by SFA.
However, upon his death on 16 April 2009, Sudan Football Association lowered its flag for three days as a symbol of mourning, with a minute silence being observed before football matches during these three days. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, paid tribute to Abdel Halim stating that:

In the name of the international football community, we would like to pass on our sincerest condolences to the people of Africa, particularly the family and close friends of Dr. Abdel Halim Mohamed. He will be sorely missed for his great intellect, determination and dedication by those whose lives he touched, whether on a personal level or as a result of the prodigious contribution he made within CAF during its emergence after 1956.

Personal life and death

Abdel Halim was married to Khalda Ahmed Khalil in 1942, who died in 1987. They had two daughters and five sons. Abdel Halim passed away in Khartoum on 16 April 2009, at the age of 99.

References

{{Authority control

Presidents of the Confederation of African Football
Association football executives
1910 births
2009 deaths
People from Omdurman
Sudanese physicians
Sudanese politicians
20th-century physicians
Sudanese writers
Sudanese civil servants