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

Ottoman Algeria The Regency of Algiers ( ar, دولة الجزائر, translit=Dawlat al-Jaza'ir) was a state in North Africa lasting from 1516 to 1830, until it was French conquest of Algeria, conquered by the French. Situated between the Ottoman Tunisia, re ...

Biography

Ahmed Ben Triki was born in Tlemcen, in

, 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, in 1652, after the Ottoman authorities banished Ben Triki from Tlemcen. 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 of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Nonetheless, his poem "Burned to the Depths of My Soul!", a religious poem, was an innovative qasida which praised the

Kaaba The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...

in Mecca; Ben Triki transposed the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

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