"’Alā Khallidī" ( ar, ألا خلّدي) was the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

from 1958 to 1987. It was used during the Presidency of

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

until his downfall in 1987. ''

Humat al-Hima (, "Defenders of the Homeland") is the national anthem of Tunisia; the text was written by Mostafa Saadeq Al-Rafe'ie and Aboul-Qacem Echebbi. History The lyrics come from a poem written in the 1930s by Lebanese-born Egyptian poet Mostafa S ...

'' was temporarily a national anthem between the end of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

on 25 July 1957 and the adoption of ''Ala Khallidi'' as the official national anthem. In 1958, the Ministry of Education organized a competition, in which 53 poets and 23 musicians took part. The results were examined first by a commission of the Board of Education, which selected the submissions of the hymn poet Jalaleddine Naccache (1910–1989) and the composer and director of the Conservatoire of Tunis

Salah El Mahdi Salah El Mahdi ( aeb, صالح المهدي; born Mohamed Ibn Abderrahmane Ben Salah Mehdi Chérifi on February 9, 1925 in Tunis and died September 12, 2014 in Tunis) was a Tunisian musicologist, conductor, composer, flautist, music critic and judg ...

(1925-2014). The works were presented to the president without announcing the selection that already been made. He selected the same version as the commission had. To be completely sure, officials held another larger popular assembly in Monastir, the birth city of the president, where all 23 melodies were played. The song by Naccache and El Mahdi won, and the nation formally adopted it on 20 March, Tunisia's Independence Day, that year.

replaced ''Ala Khallidi'' following the coup which brought

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

to power on 7 November 1987.

Lyrics

African anthems Historical national anthems Tunisian culture {{anthem-stub