ABSTRACT
Anwar Sadat hesitated for a considerable time before taking action against the extremist Muslim groups. Unlike Nasser, he agonised over whether strong measures against highly motivated Muslims were justified. In some respects he felt a kinship with fervent Muslims and understood their passion. He prayed with a passion and commitment which impressed even the fundamentalists. They were, at first, somewhat bewildered by the division between his religious and political beliefs, his regular daily prayers which made a permanent mark on his forehead – so it was claimed – and his insistence on making peace with the infidel, Israel, the Jewish ‘robber state’, pawn of the ‘American devil’.
