Biladi, Biladi, Biladi

Egypt had its first the national anthem during the reign of Khedive Ismail. It was known as the "Khedive's Special Salute". It was instrumental and had no official lyrics. The national anthem of Egypt was played at the opening of the Suez Canal during Khedive Ismail's reception of the kings of the world.^[10] It was adopted as the first national anthem after this visit in 1871. Multiple origins of the melody had been proposed (including Giuseppe Verdi, the author of opera "Aida",^[10] and Turkish or Egyptian composers), but the most likely author is Giuiseppe Pugioli,^[5] an Italian cornetist, who visited Egypt to perform the Verdi's opera and remained in Egypt. The musical score of the anthem is near-identical to Pugioli's work "l'Affendina".^[11] While used internationally, the melody without words did not become popular inside Egypt, and multiple attempts were made to rectify the situation, triggered by the 1919 Egyptian revolution. Ahmad Shawqi won a competition held in 1920 to produce lyrics for the anthem, yet his entry failed to gain traction with the bureaucracy.^[12]

The anthem "Eslami ya Misr", written by Mustafa Sadiq Al-Rafei and composed by Safar Ali, became the national anthem from 1923 to 1936. The anthem is currently used as the anthem of the Police College in Egypt.^[10][13][14]

King Farouk restored the Egyptian royal anthem composed by Puigliani^[5] when he ascended the throne in 1936 and continued until 1953.

With the end of the monarchy in 1953 and the outbreak of the Free Officers Revolution, the anthem was not changed. But its name changed to be called the Egyptian Republican anthem instead of the Egyptian Royal anthem because of the abolition of the monarchy.

In 1960, Republican Decree No. 143 was issued to adopt a new national anthem, which was based on Kamal El-Tawil's melody for the anthem "Wallah Zaman Ya Silahi" with lyrics by Salah Jahin for Umm Kulthum. This anthem gained great popularity in 1956 during the Tripartite Aggression on Egypt. There were no lyrics accompanying the melody, which is why it was referred to as the "Al-Salam" (Salute) rather than "Al-Nasheed" (Anthem).

During the period in which the tune "Wallah Zaman Ya Selahy" was used as the national anthem of Egypt, two amendments were made to it: the first by Republican Decree No. 1854 of 1974, which limited the playing of the first part of it only, and the second by Republican Decree No. 1158 of 1975, which returned to playing the entire national anthem as it had been since 1960.

"Wallah Zaman Ya Selahy" remained the national anthem until 1979. It was also used as a national anthem by Iraq from 1963 to 1981, which aspired to form a unified Arab state from Egypt and Iraq, and it was also used as the anthem of the United Arab Republic between 1958 and 1960.^[15]

In 1979, Republican Decree No. 149 was issued amending the national anthem of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the anthem "Bilady, Bilady, Bilady" written by Sheikh Younis Al-Qadi (influenced by the words of Mustafa Kamel), composed by Sayed Darwish, and redistributed by the Egyptian musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab. Then, in December 1982, Republican Decree No. 590 was issued, which stipulated in its first article that:

It is to be observed that the lyrics of the first verse of the anthem 'Biladi Biladi' are to accompany the musical score in all popular and national celebrations. The instrumental national anthem is to be limited to playing the musical score without lyrics when welcoming presidents and foreign delegations, as well as in other instances requiring its performance alongside the instrumental anthem of a foreign country^[16][17]

An unofficial Coptic version of the anthem, though not codified in law, is widely circulated online and has gained popularity through various digital platforms.^[18]