Ila Tughat al-Alam

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 sung the poem and dedicated it to Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush.

A snapshot of Latifa clip "Ela Toghat Al Alaam" (To the tyrants of the world). The little girl is 6 month old Eman Hijjo, killed by Israeli troops.

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! Under the ashes burns the flame,
and he who sows the thorns harvests the wounds.

Think! Whenever you reap
the heads of men and the flowers of hope,
wherever you water the heart of the earth with blood
and inebriate it with tears,
the flood will carry you away, the torrent of blood,
and the burning rage will consume you.

Original text

ألا أيها الظالم المستبد

حبيب الظلام عدو الحياه

سخرت بأنات شعب ضعيف

و كفك مخضوبة من دماه

و سرت تشوه سحر الوجود

و تبذر شوك الاسى في رباه

رويدك لا يخدعنك الربيع

و صحو الفضاء و ضوء الصباح

ففي الافق الرحب هول الظلام و قصف الرعود و عصف الرياح

حذار فتحت الرماد اللهيب

و من يبذر الشوك يجن الجراح

تأمل هنالك انى حصدت رؤوس الورى و زهور الأمل

و رويت بالدم قلب التراب اشربته الدمع حتى ثمل

سيجرفك سيل الدماء

و يأكلك العاصف المشتعل