Ila Tughat al-Alam
poem by Abou el Kacem Chebbi
Ilá Ṭughāt al-‘Ālam (Arabic: الى طغاة العالم, English: To the Tyrants of the World), also known as Ela Toghat Al Alaam, is a poem written in the early 1900s by the Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi during the French conquest of Tunisia.
It's also a song and a music video produced in the year 2002, during the second Intifada, by the Tunisian vocalist Latifa who sang the poem and dedicated it to Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush.
English translation
Hark! You tyrannous dictator,
lover of darkness, enemy of life.
You mocked the cries of the weak,
and your palm is stained with their blood.
You set out tarnishing the enchantment of existence,
sowing the thorns of anguish among the hills.
Slow down! Let not the Spring deceive you,
nor the serenity of the sky, nor the glow of the morning.
For in the vast horizon lurks the power of darkness,
the bombardment of thunder, and the raging of winds.
Beware!
The public source identifies “Ila Tughat al-Alam” as poem by Abou el Kacem Chebbi. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tughat, al-Alam and poem.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ila Tughat al-Alam”, the useful work is to connect “poem by Abou el Kacem Chebbi” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3050367. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2002.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ila Tughat al-Alam”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ila Tughat al-Alam primary sources, Ila Tughat al-Alam archive and Tughat research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ila Tughat al-Alam”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ila Tughat al-Alam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.