The popularity of the song led to it being adopted as the national anthem of the UAR two years after the establishment of the union. It replaced the former official royal anthem of Egypt "Salam Affandina"("Salute of our lord," سلام افندينا, composed by Giuseppe Pugioli) and the unofficial anthem "Nashid al-Huriyya" ("The Anthem of Freedom", نشيد الحرية, composed and sung by Mohammed Abdel Wahab), which were adopted following the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and the abolition of the monarchy, as well as the former national anthem of Syria.