Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol

Amal Abul-Qassem Dunqul (, ; 23 June 1940 – 21 May 1983) was an Egyptian poet.

Early life Dunqul was born in El-Qala village in Qift, an administrative division of Qena Governorate on 23 June 1940. His father had gotten his Habilitation degree from al-Azhar University that same year, and so named him "Amal", meaning "Hope" in Arabic, despite it being a typically female name. Dunqul's father wrote Classical ("Vertical") Arabic poetry, and owned a large library of books in various Arabic literary traditions. He was a very strict parent, preventing his son from playing with other children. He died when Dunqul was ten years old, and at such an early age, Dunqul had to financially support his mother and two younger brothers, an experience which hardened him and shaped his infamously harsh personality. He was raised in a very religious household, and thus was very devout. He later lost his deep devotion to religion and developed Marxist sympathies, reading the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin,

Artistic career Dunqul met his future wife, Egyptian journalist Abla El-Rowainy, after she decided to conduct a series of interviews with him for her newspaper, Akhbar el-Yom. However, the senior editors objected due to Dunqul's leftist views and his opposition to then-president Anwar Sadat.

The poem alludes to the refusal of Satan to prostrate himself before Adam in Islamic tradition. Another widely-circulated poem is Do Not Reconcile , which starts:

This poem was written in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict, and contains a refusal to reconcile with Israel, which earned him the moniker "Prince of Refusers" . This was considered deeply blasphemous, since it portrayed a traditionally rebellious disbeliever punished by God as a brave, principled man who refused to leave his homeland.