MOUFDI ZAKARIA

An Algerian poet and activist, who dedicated his poetry to the causes of his homeland, known as the "poet of the Algerian revolution", immortalized his country's history in the "Iliad Algeria", which amounted to a thousand verses of poetry, issued a number of books, and wrote the words of the national anthem of Algeria. Birth and upbringing Zekri Ben Slimane (Mufdi Zakaria) was born on June 12, 1908, in one of the seven palaces of the M'zab Bani Yazgine valley in the province of Ghardaia in southern Algeria. Study and training He began his first education in the Kataebib in his hometown, where he studied the Koran and the principles of the Arabic language, and then left to Tunisia, where he continued his education in Arabic and French at Attarin School and the Khalduniyyah School, then he joined Zaytouna and got his degree. Political experience He joined the ranks of political and national action in the early 1930s, keeping up with the national movement in the Maghreb with his poetry and struggle.He joined the ranks of the Constitutional Youth during his studies in Tunisia and participated in conferences of North African students against the policy of integration. He was an active member of the Algerian national movement. He was a member of the North African Star Party, a founding member of the Algerian People's Party, then its general secretary, and a member of the Movement of Victory for Democratic Freedoms. He was arrested and imprisoned by the French occupation authorities more than once because of his political activity.He was arrested in August 1937 with Masali al-Haj, then in May 1945 for three years, then in February 1946 for six months. In 1955, he announced his accession to the Liberation Revolution, and it was not until one year that he was arrested and imprisoned in Sarkaji prison in Algiers for three years on charges of violating state security by writing the national anthem “Qassam”, and his property was nationalized and much of his manuscript was lost. He managed to escape from prison on February 1, 1959 and went to Morocco and then to Tunisia for treatment of the effects of suffering and torture in prison, and took advantage of his presence in Tunisia, he helped found the newspaper Mujahid. After independence, he lived his life moving between the countries of the Maghreb, and was more time in the Kingdom of Morocco, especially during his last years. Literary experience At the beginning of his poetic career, he attended the literary councils of the great Tunisian Arab Kabadi writer, and also had a close friendship with the poets Abou El Kacem Chebbi, Ramadan Hammoud, and Abi El Yekzhad Ibrahim, dean of the Arab press in Algeria. Moufdi was influenced by the reality of Algeria, which is thickened by colonial surgery, which is full of liberation. His poetry was one of the travels of the Algerian people's struggles to get rid of French colonialism and gain independence. He was the ambassador of the Algerian cause, who contributed to the introduction of it in the Moroccan and Tunisian press, and carried the concerns of his homeland and his revolution, where he arrived, and his poems and songs reflected a mirror of the revolution of Algeria and the yearning of its people freedom and emancipation echoing his poetic home: "If I die, Algeria will live free and independent. He wrote poems, epics and songs, all of which were expressions of the pain and hopes of the Algerians, and the Algerian man sang them, and turned into an icon and a symbol of emancipation. The child was chanting on his way to the classroom and the martyr on the execution platform. The “shades of olives”, “the sacred flame”, and “the atlas” reflect his poetic commitment, dominating the contents of the national poem. The Iliad of Algeria, which consists of a thousand epic houses and houses, commemorates Algerian history and sings its glories. He made his mark on Algerian cultural and political life through his various national anthems.He composed the Algerian national anthem, Qassam, in Barbarous Prison in April 1955, the anthem of the martyrs who were sentenced to death before boarding the guillotine, and many other national anthems. He participated actively in the conferences of Islamic thought founded by his close friend and Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs, Dr. Mouloud Kacem Nite Belkacem, who was the author of the idea of organizing the Office of the Iliad of Algeria, which was delivered on the occasion of the Forum of Islamic Thought in Algiers in 1972. Publications He has published poems, including: "Under the shadows of the olive", "The Holy Flame", "The Iliad of Algeria", "Inspired by the Atlas", and left many unpublished. Expressing his attachment to thought and culture, he recommended that his house in Bani Yazqin be transformed into a scientific radiation center, and became a reading library, containing his most important manuscripts and many ancient and modern scientific sources under the supervision of his family. Awards and honors He received many awards and accolades in his homeland and in the Maghreb. In Algeria, he was awarded the Order of the Resistance, the Order of the Atheer in the National Order of Merit, and a certificate of appreciation for his works and writings. The State also named the Palace of Culture in Algiers. In Morocco, he was awarded the Order of Intellectual Competence of the first degree, while in Tunisia he received the Order of Independence and the Order of Cultural Merit. Death Zekri Ben Slimane (Mufdi Zakaria) died on 17 August 1977 in Tunis and his body was taken to Algeria and buried in his hometown of Beni Yazgine, Ghardaia.