Ahmed Ben Triki, sometimes referred to as Ben Zengli, (1650–1750) was a poet from

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...

, in Ottoman Algeria.

Biography

Ahmed Ben Triki was born in

, in Ottoman Algeria, in 1650 to a Turkish father.. He began writing poetry at an early age and was taught by the poet Saïd El-Mendassi.

Poetry

One of his most notable poems "My pain Endures…" was written in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, in 1652, after the Ottoman authorities banished Ben Triki from

. Many of his poems were written during this period of exile and express his painful separation from his homeland. On his return to Algeria, he mainly composed

panegyrics A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc ...

of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. Nonetheless, his poem "Burned to the Depths of My Soul!", a religious poem, was an innovative

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; is originally an Arabic word , plural ''qaṣā’id'', ; that was passed to some other languages such as fa, قصیده or , ''chakameh'', and tr, kaside) is an ancient Arabic word and form of writin ...

which praised the Kaaba in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

; Ben Triki transposed the Sufi ghazal devices originally applied to the love of God or ones "Beloved" to the description of the physical features of a place. Ben Triki’s acclaimed poems lead his contemporary Sidi Mohammed Ben Msaieb to praise the poet as follows: "Ben Triki is possessed by a great jinn, but this jinn was mistaken when he chose such a home!".

References

{{authority control 1650 births 1750 deaths People from Tlemcen Algerian people of Turkish descent 17th-century Algerian poets Algerian male poets 17th-century male writers 18th-century Algerian poets