Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi
أبو القاسم الشابي
Poet · 1909–1934
Who is Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi?
Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi was born in 1909 in Tunisia and is regarded as Tunisia's national poet. He studied at the Zitouna mosque-university and later law at the University of Tunis, while immersing himself in Arabic and French Romantic poetry. Despite chronic heart illness that would kill him at the age of twenty-five, he produced a compact but enduring body of work collected posthumously as "Aghani al-Hayat" ("Songs of Life"). His most famous poem, "Iradat al-Hayat" ("The Will to Life"), calls on the Arab people to rise and demand their destiny, and its opening lines were later adopted into the Tunisian national anthem, "Humat al-Hima". During the 2010-2011 Tunisian revolution that toppled President Ben Ali and helped ignite the wider Arab Spring, his verses were chanted by protesters in the streets and painted on walls, giving his century-old poetry a renewed and urgent political life. He died in Tunis in 1934 and is commemorated on Tunisian currency and in schools across the country.
Sources: Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi, Aghani al-Hayat (Songs of Life, published posthumously 1955) · Tunisian National Anthem, "Humat al-Hima" (lyrics incorporate al-Shabbi verses) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi"