This essay presents a comparative study of the life and works of Egyptian writer and journalist Ihsan Abdul Quddus and the Pakistani, Urdu fiction writer, Saadat Hasan Manto. Having lived in the same time period, both writers appear to have shared numerous similarities in terms of social conditions as well as (thematic) choices in writing. The article makes a case for the idea that Quddus was indeed ‘the Manto of Egypt’.