al-'aqqad was also an outspoken political thinker, and was jailed for a time between 1930 and 1931 for his criticism of his country's government. in 1942 when the forces of adolf hitler advanced on egypt, al-'aqqad fled to sudan due to fear of reprisal for his criticism of hitler. at the height of hitler's military advances, al-'aqqad wrote his scathing work "hitler in the balance" in june 1940 in which he lambasts nazism as the greatest threat to freedom, modernity and the very existence of man. in addition to his general opposition to both fascism and communism, al-'aqqad was also both a member of the egyptian parliament for a time as a member of the wafd party, and later a member of the chamber of deputies.