Reflection of the Tripoli War in Arabic Poetry and Analysis of İsmail Sabri’s Qasida Called “Harbu Trâblus”
The wars that the Ottoman Empire engaged in with Western states in its last periods greatly affected the Arab world. Especially Arab poets, who were not insensitive to social and political issues, gave an important place to these wars of the Ottoman Empire in their divans. The war that Arab poets particularly emphasized among these conflicts was the Tripoli War between the Ottoman Empire and Italy. Generally, in the eyes of the poets, this war was accepted as a colonial attempt by the West to the Islamic world, and this caused these poets to absolutely support the Ottomans. Although Egyptian poet İsmail Sabri remained indifferent to the Ottoman rule throughout his poet career, he wrote poems about this war, both showing his reaction to Italy and declaring his support for the Ottoman Empire. In this study, the reflections of the Tripoli War in Arabic poetry were discussed and, in this context, İsmail Sabri’s qasida called “Harbu Trâblus” was evaluated. The mentioned qasida has been analyzed verse by verse, attempting to highlight the themes that the poet emphasizes throughout the qasida. The poet’s messages regarding the war, addressed to both the Western world and the Islamic community and his thoughts about the war, have been articulated.
Arap Şiirinde Trablusgarp Savaşı’nın Yansıması ve İsmail Sabrî’nin “Harbu Trâblus” Adlı Kasidesinin Tahlili
Osmanlı Devleti’nin Batılı devletlerle son dönemlerinde yaptığı savaşlar Arap dünyasını oldukça etkilemiştir. Özellikle toplumsal ve siyasal konulara duyarsız kalmayan Arap şairler, Osmanlının gerçekleştirdiği bu savaşlara divanlarında önemli yer vermişlerdir. Arap şairlerin bu savaşlar arasında en fazla dikkat çektiği Osmanlı Devleti ile İtalya arasında gerçekleşen Trablusgarp Savaşı’dır. Genel itibarıyla şairlerin gözünde bu savaş, Batının İslam dünyasına yaptığı bir sömürge girişimi olarak değerlendirilip mutlak surette Osmanlıya destek vermelerine sebep olmuştur. Mısırlı şair İsmail Sabrî de şairlik hayatı boyunca Osmanlı yönetimine ilgisiz kalmasına rağmen bu savaş üzerine şiirler kaleme alarak hem İtalya’ya tepkisini göstermiş hem de Osmanlıya desteğini beyan etmiştir. Bu çalışmayla Trablusgarp Savaşı’nın Arap şiirinde yansımaları ele alınmış ve bu bağlamda İsmail Sabrî’nin “Harbu Trâblus” adlı kasidesi değerlendirilmiştir. Söz konusu kaside mümkün olduğunca beyit beyit tahlil edilmiş ve şairin kaside boyunca dikkat çektiği konular, savaşa dair hem Batı dünyasına hem de İslam alemine vermek istediği mesajlar, savaşla ilgili düşünceleri beyan edilmeye çalışılmıştır.
The Ottoman Empire entered into many wars during the period of disintegration. One of these wars is the Tripoli War with Italy. The war ended with the defeat of the Ottomans. This war has a special place in the eyes of the Islamic world in general and the Arabs in particular. Because this war took place against the Muslim-Arab lands under Ottoman rule. Muslims, especially Arabs, accepted this war as a colonial attempt of the West against a Muslim land, rather than an ordinary Ottoman war. For this reason, there were great reactions to this war in the Arab world, anti-war actions were taken, and protests against the Italian State were held in public squares. Manpower support was given to this war from many regions, especially Iraq and Egypt, and financial aid was collected under the supervision of delegations by establishing help desks. Many attempts have been made to inform the public about the war and to appeal to people to help. In the Arab media, despite the political pressures of the western states, news was made in favor of the Turks, the discourse that all Muslims were on the side of the Turks was echoed, and those who supported this war, especially in Italy, were strongly condemned.
The Tripoli War also had reflections on modern Arabic poetry. The poets of the period, who included social and political issues in their divans, paid attention to this war and carried the war in all its dimensions into their couplets. As a matter of fact, although the themes that Arab poets dealt with about war were different, the emotions they felt were close to each other because they all looked at it from the same window. They tried to raise awareness among the world public by blending the Islamic faith with national feelings in their couplets. Arab poets aimed to reflect every scene experienced in line with the news coming from the war zone and to announce the difficulties and troubles that people experienced to the masses. Praise for the Ottoman Empire, its army, past victories, the past heroism of the Arabs, the resistance of the local people to the enemy, encouragement for war, Turkish-Arab solidarity, heroism on the battlefields, independence and unity, etc. They drew attention to many issues. In addition, the invitation to unite against colonial powers around a common belief was reflected as the dominant theme. The reason for this is that separatist ideas were dominant in the Middle East region during the periods when the war occurred. It was stated that these ideas should be eliminated and support should be given to the Turks. Similarly, the Tripoli War was viewed from a broader perspective by the poets and this war was brought into poetry as a war between the East and the West, and the East was invited to resistance and rebellion against the colonialist attitude of the West. Calls have been made for the East to unite against the West.
One of the poets who wrote poems about this war is the Egyptian poet İsmail Sabri. Since Sabri was in France for education, he was influenced by Western literature and also imitated many Arab poets of the classical period and reflected the influence of Arabic poetry in his couplets. The poet, who had a nationalist identity, touched on many social and political issues of his period, but preferred to stay away from expressing sharp thoughts due to his state duties and displayed a calm and soft style in his poems. One of the most remarkable poems that Sabri wrote about the Tripoli War is his poem called “Harbu Trâblus”, which consists of forty-four couplets. Compared to many poets of his period, he did not give much space to the Ottoman government and sultans in his poems, and remained neutral or indifferent, but he clearly reflected his absolute support for the Ottoman Empire with his qasida in question. As it was echoed in the Muslim world, he considered this war as a war against the entire Islamic world, not the Ottoman Empire. In the qasida in question, he tried to present the Ottoman Empire to the reader as the state of the entire Islamic world and accordingly invited all Muslims to support the Ottoman Empire. In this regard, he left his political identity aside and clearly made the element of belief, which is the common denominator, felt within the framework of an integrative and unifying thought. He used a calm tone while carrying this thought into his couplets, appealing to people’s minds rather than their emotions, encouraging them to fight. In his encouragement discourse, he made references to the Islamic faith and used elements that Muslims consider sacred, such as martyrdom.
Sabri started the first couplets of his poem by indirectly implying that the Ottoman army was the army of the entire Islamic world. Subsequently, he continued by praising the Ottoman Empire, its army and its power, and did not adopt an exaggerated style in such couplets. Emphasizing the victories of the Ottoman Empire in the past, he hoped for a similar victory against the Italians and considered it a mistake for the Italians to attempt such an invasion. As a matter of fact, he threatened Italy by saying that some Western states, which had previously displayed similar attitudes towards the Ottomans, had suffered defeats and implied that Italy would face the same result. He also included satirical couplets about the Italian army and its fleets anchored on the shores of Tripoli, and disparaged the weakness of the fleets and the cowardice of its soldiers. He expressed his main message in the last couplets. He invited Muslims living in India, China, Japan and many other regions to help the Ottoman Empire. While giving this message to the reader, he tried to reflect the Ottoman Empire as the state of all Muslims and chose the expressions he used accordingly. In addition, in these last couplets, the poet calls on the Egyptian people, to whom he belongs, for help, and in his statements, he praises his own people and mentions that their prestige will increase due to the aid they will provide to the Ottoman Empire.
