Sidi Mohammed ben Ismail of Algiers. The Crimean War and the Algerians / Translation from Arabic, Introductory Article and Commentaries by O. Alimenko

The publication presents the Ukrainian translation of the poem “The War of the Ottomans with the Moscovites” better known as “The Crimean War and the Algerians”, composed by Cheikh Sidi Mohammed Ben Ismail of Algiers in Arabic around the mid-1850s. This qasida is a representative example of North African Malḥūn poetry. The poem was first published in 1907 in the Revue Africaine journal accompanied by the French translation made by Cheikh Mohamed Ben Cheneb, a famous Algerian scholar. The poem provides a detailed description of events of the Crimean War 1854, examining both the military activities and the broader political context of the period. It emphasizes the severity and brutality of the battles, as well as the hardships and sacrifices endured by Algerian soldiers operating in distant territories. Structurally, the poem represents a synthesis of literary forms: it functions as an epic by depicting actual historical events with narrative coherence and dramatic intensity, while simultaneously serving as a panegyric that honors the Prophet Muhammad. This dual character allows the work to operate on both historical and devotional levels, offering insight into the interplay between political, military, and religious dimensions in mid-19th-century North African literary production. The introduction offers a detailed analysis of the poem’s artistic and structural features, addressing its compositional framework, narrative strategies, and the deployment of poetic and rhetorical techniques to represent historical events and convey moral and religious messages. It clarifies specialized terminology, contextual references, and culturally specific expressions to facilitate a precise understanding of the text within its historical and literary milieu. Furthermore, the commentaries provide brief yet critical information on the historical figures and Quranic characters mentioned in the poem, thereby situating the work within the related spheres of 19th-century North African history, Islamic literary tradition, and the broader socio-political context of the Crimean War

Context (archaeology) · EPIC · Narrative · Poetry · Politics · Rhetorical question · Spanish Civil War · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · Islamic Studies and History · North African History and Literature

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