Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi

(1909 - 1934)

Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi was born in 1909, trained as a lawyer but never practiced, and died of heart disease in 1934 before completing his one collection of poetry, Songs of Life, which was first published in 1955. Parts of his poem “The Will to Live,” written in opposition to French colonial rule, became the final verses of the Tunisian national anthem.