Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri

‘Abd el-Razzāq el-Sanhūrī
عبد الرزاق السنهوري
President of the Egyptian Council of State
In office 3 March 1949 – 29 March 1954
President	Himself
Preceded by	Kāmil Pasha Mursī
Succeeded by	‘Alī al-Sayyid
Minister of Education
In office 24 February 1945 – 15 February 1946
Preceded by	Mohammed Hussein Heikal
Succeeded by	Muḥammad Ḥasan al-‘Ashmawi
In office 9 December 1946 – 2 March 1949
Preceded by	Muḥammad Ḥasan al-‘Ashmawi
Succeeded by	Aḥmad Mursī Badr
Under-Secretary of Education
In office January 1942 – March 1942
Dean of the Law Faculty at the Egyptian National University (Cairo University)
In office 8 October 1936 – 15 October 1937
Personal details
Born	(1895-08-11)August 11, 1895 Alexandria, Egypt
Died	July 21, 1971(1971-07-21) (aged 75) Alexandria, Egypt
Political party	Saadist Institutional Party (1937–1949)
Alma mater	Khedival School of Law, Cairo University of Lyon (PhD)

Abd el-Razzak el-Sanhuri or ‘Abd al-Razzāq el-Sanhūrī (Arabic: عبد الرزاق السنهوري) (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. El-Sanhūrī's multi-volume masterwork, Al-Wasīṭ fī sharḥ al-qānūn al-madanī al-jadīd, a comprehensive commentary on the Egyptian Civil Code of 1948 and on civil law more generally, published during 1952-1970, remains in print and is highly regarded in legal and juristic professions throughout the Arab world. El-Sanhūrī was Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Mahmoud El Nokrashy Pasha from 1945-1946 and again from late 1946 to 1948.

He was subsequently appointed as President of the Egyptian Council of State. El-Sanhūrī's tenure as President of the Council of State lasted until 1954, when he was dismissed by coercion. He has been described as "a personality of unique embroidery, never to reoccur".^[1] An avowed advocate of Arab unity, el-Sanhūrī was notably active in the legal and institutional reforms of different Arab countries throughout most of his adult life. He presided over a committee which drafted the Iraqi Civil Code, while at the same time serving as dean of the Baghdad Law School, from 1935 to 1937. He also contributed to a drafting project of a Syrian civil code throughout the early 1940s. El-Sanhūrī also drafted various public and private laws of Kuwait, Sudan, Libya and Bahrain.