Moufdi Zakaria

Cheikh Zakaria Ben Slimane Ben Yahia Ben Cheikh Slimane Ben Hadj Aïssa (12 June 1908 – 17 August 1977), commonly known as Moufdi Zakaria and also referred to by some sources as Zekri Cheikh, was an Algerian activist, nationalist, poet and writer. He wrote the lyrics of Kassaman, the national anthem of Algeria, purportedly with his own blood while imprisoned by the French in 1955. Qoutes I am neither a Muslim, nor a believer, nor an Arab if I do not sacrifice my being, my property and my blood to free my beloved homeland, North Africa, from the chains of slavery and to bring it out of the darkness of ignorance and misery towards the light of knowledge, prosperity and a happy life. We are in revolt, whether to live or to die, We are determined that Algeria should live. We are soldiers in revolt for truth And we have fought for our independence. When we spoke, nobody listened to us, So we have taken the noise of gunpowder as our rhythm And the sound of machine guns as our melody. External link Category: writers]