The essay that I want to inform my colleagues about is a work of folk poetry in a special poetic language (malkhun). Such poetry has deep traditions in Algeria [Skorobogatov, 1987, p. 3]. I think that not only this essay itself is of some professional interest, but also the story of how it came to me.

In early December 2008, I participated in the First Algerian International Conference on Literary Translation held by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria in the capital of the country. Once, during a conference (it was the second of December), I happened to have lunch with an Algerian journalist. We had a friendly conversation with one of our fellow diners, a middle-aged Mr. Muhammad Bin Naji, which I soon managed to turn into an ethnographic interview.

It turned out that in the 1970s, my interlocutor served in parts of the transport troops of the Algerian army stationed on the western borders of the country and even took part in military clashes with Morocco. He greatly admired the skill of Soviet military specialists who helped develop the Algerian armed forces. Muhammad Bin Naji also liked the internal policy of the then Algerian authorities, in which, as he put it, "there was a constant concern for the person." He believes that in that era, the greatest opportunities for the development of the human personality were opened up, because the state provided excellent educational opportunities both in Algeria itself and abroad.

After that, the nostalgic memories of my interlocutor began to extend more deeply. He spoke about the diversity of Algeria's local cultures. Previously, it was easy to determine a person's tribal identity by their clothing. The local variants of traditional cuisine that still exist today are equally diverse. Different localities have their own varieties of oranges and tangerines. In his small homeland, there is a great variety of dates, about two hundred varieties, and Muhammad Bin Naji himself had a chance to try about fifty. Here, of course, intrigued by such an interesting story, I finally asked my informant (this is a purely ethnographic term) where he came from. It turned out to be from the historical area of az-Zab, covering the south-western regions of modern Tunisia and the north-eastern regions of modern Algeria. Currently, M. Naji permanently resides in a small but extremely important city of North-Eastern Algeria, Biskra, which is the center of the eponymous governorate-vilai. Historically, Biskra - ancient Vesera - was founded by the Carthaginians. It is the center of the oasis of the same name, where a significant number of dates are grown [Algerie..., 2005, p.279-280; Biskra, 1970; Bernard, 1949, p. 222] - so my interlocutor turned out to be a fan of them for a reason. He considers his hometown not easy

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the modern administrative center, but the historical capital of az-Zab. Near Biskra, M. Ben Naji emphasized (judging by the map of Algeria that I have, to the south-east [Algeria. Reference map, B-8]), is the mausoleum of the famous Arab-Muslim military leader, founder of Kairouan, 'Uqba ibn Nafi' (d. 682), who died with about three hundred Ashabs (companions of the Prophet Muhammad) and tabiyyas (their followers) during the conquest of az-Zab. This mausoleum is one of the most revered mazars in Algeria.

Continuing the story of his small homeland, my informant noted that its inhabitants are skilled not only in agriculture, but also in cattle breeding. First, they have long bred a wonderful breed of sheep, whose meat is particularly soft and does not have an unpleasant smell. Secondly, they are proud of their small but extremely fast and hardy horses. Horses of this breed are especially good for mountainous areas. For this reason, such horses are still used by the Algerian gendarmerie. A significant number of such horses are supplied, according to M. Ben Naji, to other African Francophone countries, where the gendarmerie has also existed since the days of French rule. At one time, Napoleon himself bought horses of this breed in abundance for his army.

When our ethnographic conversation reached such a high level of confidence, I asked my interlocutor a sacramental question about his family, kinship and tribal roots. He replied that the modern inhabitants of az-Zab, to which he also refers himself , are descendants of the famous South Arab (Yemeni) tribe of Himyar 2, which, according to my informant, occupied the area of az-Zab even before the arrival of this very legendary 'Uqba b. Nafi' (or Sidi ' Uqba, as it is called in North Africa) and gave the name of this area - just az-Zab, in honor of az-Zab in Iraq. This name, according to Muhammad Bin Naji, means "semi-desert".

In connection with this information received from my interlocutor, I would like to note that in the works available to me on the history of the al-Maghreb, already mentioned works of H. H. 'Abd al-Wahhab and' A. al-Jilali, there is no information about the migration of Arab tribes to the territory of modern Eastern Algeria before the campaigns of ' Uqba b. Nafi' I didn't find it. Most likely, there were no such migrations. The statement of my informant, based on the tradition of his native tribe, can have three closely related explanations. First, the Himyar, who settled in the Algerian az-Zab, could simply "extend" the time of their stay in that area in order to be considered its oldest inhabitants. Secondly, the tradition of the coming of the Himyar to az-Zab could be attributed by the traditional milo-mythologized consciousness to the immemorial pre-Islamic times, when the Yemeni Arabs under the leadership of their kings, who bore the title tubba', allegedly conquered the whole world, including al-Maghreb and al-Andalus. Such legends seem to form an organic element of the Qahtanid (Yemeni) tribal tradition. 3 And, finally, according to the testimony of a major Arab-Muslim historian and geographer al-Ya'qubi (d. 897), among some of the North African Berbers, already in his time, a legend was spread about their Yemeni (Qahtanid) origin - supposedly the ancestors of such people.

1 See about the last campaign of 'Uqba ibn Nafi and his companions in az-Zab and the complex of memorial buildings dedicated to them: ['Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Jilali, 1980, p. 128-130;' Abd al-Wahhab, 1976, p. 58-60].

2 See Mordtmann, 1927, on the Himyar tribe. On the process of merging the ancient population of Southern Arabia, including the Himyarites, with the Bedouin nomads who penetrated from Inner Arabia in the III-VI centuries AD, and the formation of new tribal communities, the so-called southern Arabs themselves, see [Piotrovsky, 1977, pp. 50-70].

3 See on the Qahtanid (Yemeni) tribal tradition: [Piotrovsky, 1977, pp. 10-34.] See also On its reflection in Arab-Muslim historical chronicles: [Rosenthal, 1968, p. 23]. See Ibn Khaldun's "critical" account of the Yemeni tribal tradition [Ibn Khaldun, 1968, p. 16-17].

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groups of Berbers were driven out of Yemen by a certain king [al-Ya'qubi al-Abbasi, T. I, p. 191]. Another prominent Arab-Muslim historian, al-Mas'udi (d. 956), holds a similar view. In his famous work "Gold mines and placers of gems", this author notes that, according to the views of some experts in genealogies, the Berbers are descended from Yemeni Arabs (Qahtanids) who arrived in North Africa after the Marib dam disaster [Muruj al-zahab..., vol.II, 1964, p. 144]. Thus, the Himyar al-Zaba may be Arabized Berbers who, since the Arab-Muslim conquest, have identified themselves as Qahtanid Arabs.5
Speaking further about his fellow countrymen, my informant noted that they retained the features of their native Yemeni dialect, otherwise, as he put it, "they do not speak Algerian." Moreover, Muhammad Bin Naji believes that the Himyarites of az-Zab also preserved an original anthropological type, one of the signs of which is a reddish complexion. That, he said, was why a good friend of his, the former Minister of Agriculture Boudissa Safi (whom I had met on my first trip to Algeria in February 2008), fondly referred to Mr. Muhammad al-Ahmar as "red - faced." My colleague, Associate professor of the ISAA at Moscow State University V. V. Orlov, when I told him this episode, drew my attention to the fact that such a characteristic of the modern inhabitants of the Algerian az-Zab may be associated with the ancient Arab opposition al-khumr wa-s-sud (literally, "red and black", that is, "non-Arabs (foreigners) and Arabs")6 [Girgas, 2006, p. 186]. Such a characterization may also have evolved from the ancient nickname of khumr, applied to the Arabs, descendants of Mudar [Muruj al-zahab..., vol. II, 1964, p. 117]. However, as is known, this legendary character was considered the progenitor of some of the so-called northern Arabs [Mas'udi, 1979, p.687], and here we are dealing with the descendants of the so-called southern Ones.

The Ashira (i.e., patronymic or family-related group) to which Muhammad Bin Naji belongs is called ulad jilla (or jillal). The larger unit, which includes this 'ashira, is located on the' IL7. The ancestor of this tribal division is considered to be a certain Sidi Na'il. According to legend, he lived during the Arab-Muslim conquests, was a righteous man, belonged to the Himyar tribe and at the same time was a descendant of the Prophet (who, as is known, belonged to the North Arab tribe of Quraysh). Jillal (Jilla') was one of the sons of Sidi Na'il. A master of the art of harness-making, Sidi Na'il passed the craft on to his great-grandchildren, which is what the Ulad Jillal are still famous for today. In general, the Ulad na'il is a very large tribal unit. Currently, it has spread throughout Algeria. Members of the Oulad Jillal are widely represented in the Algerian State's power structures, and there is even one minister among them.8
4 The legends about the Marib dam disaster (the significance and consequences of which were extremely exaggerated in them), as shown by M. B. Piotrovsky, were intended, among other things, to explain the fact of finding the so-called Qahtanid (Yemeni tribes) in the north of the Arabian Peninsula and in the adjacent areas [see: Piotrovsky, 1985, pp. 134-138].

5 This version of the explanation of this fact corresponds to the view of the well-known French researcher of North Africa, O. Bernard, who believed that the indigenous population of this region is mainly of Berber origin [Bernard, 1949, p.74, 84].

6 See about this: [Girgas, 2006, p. 186.] See the textual use of phraseological units reflecting such opposition: [al-Ya'qubi al-Abbasi, t. II, p. 464]. However, in this case, the semantic spectrum of phraseology is expanded. In the text of al-Ya'qubi, it is introduced as follows:: .. li-l-aswad va-l-abyad va-l-ahmar. On another occasion, this Arab-Muslim historian uses this phraseology quite traditionally [ibid., p. 183]

7 O. Bernhardt considered the Ulad Sidi na'il to be an independent tribe leading a semi-nomadic economy (Bernhardt, 1949, p. 202). Thus, the information received from M. Ben Naji corresponds to the information provided by the French scientist. This tribe is so famous in Algeria that it gave its name to a mountain range located in the southwestern part of the country. Reference map, B-7; Bernard, 1949, pp. 201-202].

8 O. Bernard identifies a special group of Sahrawi inhabitants - the Biscrians, without mentioning their tribal and cultural background.

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This is my Algerian acquaintance and" supplier " of ethnographic information - a fan of the socialist system and at the same time a carrier and connoisseur of his own local culture, proud of his kind-tribe.

It is obvious that Muhammad Bin Naji was extremely flattered by my attention to the roots of himself and the people of his small homeland. I flatter myself that this is the reason why he gave me a photocopy of an edition of a poem by the famous Algerian poet of the first half of the nineteenth century, Ben Kaitoun Hiziyyah, the next day. The publication of this poem, accompanied by a research article, was carried out in 1991 by Ahmad al-Amin, a professor at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Algiers, based on his own field notes [Quraysh, 1991, p. 5]. Nevertheless, this poem has probably been known to science since the second half of the XIX century. As far as I can tell, the only Russian author who mentions it is V. S. Skorobogatov [Skorobogatov, 1987, p.92], who, however, does not name the source of his information about Khiziyyah.

Hiziyya is a girl from al-Zawawid, a division (batn) of the famous Banu Hilal (Hilali) [Idris] 9, traditionally found in the village of Sidi Khalid, which is located on the border between the Biskra vilayet and the Mzila vilayet (Mzila; northwest of Biskra). The origin of the name of this locality is noteworthy. Local residents believe that the mausoleum located there contains the body of a pre-Islamic Arab prophet who believed in One God, Khalid b. Sinan al - ' Absi, whose daughter, according to Muslim tradition, was a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad [Muruj al-zahab..., vol. I, pp. 67-68]. According to local belief, the body of Khalid bin Sinan was moved to those places and buried there (Khiziyya, 1991, p. 17). It is believed that the poem was commissioned by Sa'id, a cousin and lover of Heziyyah. Since childhood, he and she had loved each other and were destined by tribal custom to marry each other. However, Khiziyya's father, when they both became, as they say, "at the age", gave the beautiful daughter to a rich and unloved "stranger" (Gariba, vol.e. a man from another tribal unit), and not for the beloved Hiziyya, but poor nephew. In desperation, Hiziyya committed suicide. Thus, the story of Sa'id and Hiziyyah is very similar to the famous story of Qais and Laila of banu ' uzr (although the latter does not contain a suicide motive).10 [Krachkovsky, 1956, pp. 588-632].

It is noteworthy that after mourning his beloved and immortalizing her name with the help of Ben Kaitoun, Sa'id migrated from his native Sidi Khalid and "pitched his tent", as Ahmad al-Amin writes, "among the ulad jillal" 11, i.e., in the village of relatives of my informant Muhammad Bin Naji. Thus, for my Algerian interlocutor, Ben Kai-tun is not just a favorite national poet, but a very close, local, versifier, almost a relative. The same can be said about the heroes of the poem.

I hope that the field data I have provided shows how important the role of traditional culture is among modern Arabs, and what its treasures are literally lying under our feet.

list of literature

'Abd al-Wahhab H. H. Hulasat ta'rih Tunis. Tunis: Ad-Dar at-tunisiyya li-n-nashr, 1976. ' Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Jilali. Ta'rih al-Jaza'ir al - ' amm. Beirut: Dar al-saqafa, 1980.

clan structure [Bernard, 19949, p. 105].

9 The author believes that almost all Arabic-speaking Bedouins of the modern al-Maghreb are descendants of the Banu Hilal (Idris, 1967, p. 399).

10 See on Qais (Majnun) and Laila in the classic work of academician I. Y. Krachkovsky: [Krachkovsky, 1956, pp. 588-632].

11 See the biography of Ben Kaitoun and the content of the poem: [Hiziyyah, 1991, pp. 15-34]; Sa'id's settlement among the Ulad Jillal is described on page 34.

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Quraysh R. L. Takdim / / Khiziyya. Al-Malhama al-jaza'iriyya. (Al-Qissa wa-l-qasida). Dirasa min i'dad al-ustaz Ahmad al-Amin. [Algeria]: Dar al-misbah, 1991 (photocopy).

Muruj al-zahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar. Tasnif ar-rahhala al-kabir wa-l-mu'arrih al-jalil Abi-l-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn' Ali al-Mas'udi... Tahkiq Muhammad Muhyid-d-Din ' Abd al-Hamid ... T. I-IV. Cairo, 1964 (reprint).

Hiziyya. Al-Malhama al-jaza'iriyya. (Al-Qissa wa-l-qasida). Dirasa min i'dad al-ustaz Ahmad al-Amin. [Algeria]: Dar al-misbah, 1991 (photocopy).

al-Ya'qubi al-Abbasi. al-Ya 'qubi b. Ga'far b. Wahb b. Wadih al Katib al Ya'qubi al-Abbasi. Tarih. T. I. Beirut-Lebanon: Dar SADER publishers, б.г. T. I-II.

Ibn Khaldun. Discours sur l'histoir universelle. Al-Muqaddima. Traduction novelle, preface et notes par Vincent Monteil. Troisième edition revue. Beyrouth: "THESAURUS" SINDBAD, 1968.

Algeria. Reference map, Moscow: Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, 1980.

Bernard O. Severnaya i Zapadnaya Afrika [North and West Africa]. Written by L. P. Seleznikova / Edited by A. S. Barkov and I. P. Magidovich, Moscow: Foreign Literature Publishing House, 1949.

Biskra / / The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE). 3rd ed. Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1970.

Girgas V. F. Arabsko-russkiy slovar ' k Koranuu i hadisam [Arabic-Russian dictionary to the Koran and Hadiths].
Early history of the story of Majnun and Leila in Arabic literature / / Academician Ignatiy Yulianovich Krachkovsky. Izbrannye sochineniya [Selected Works], vol. II, Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956.

Piotrovsky M. B. The legend of the Himyarite king As'ad al-Kamil. Moscow: Nauka; GRVL, 1977.

Piotrovsky M. B. Southern Arabia in the Early Middle Ages. Stanovlenie srednevekovogo obshchestva [Formation of medieval Society]. Moscow: Nauka; GRVL, 1985.

Skorobogatov V. S. Alzhirskaya narodnaya poeziya (na malkhun) [Algerian Folk Poetry (on malkhun)]. Moscow: Nauka; GRVL, 1987.

Algerie. Country guide. P.: Petit Futè, 2005.

Idris H.R. Hilal // Encyclopèdiе de I'Islam. Nouvelle edition... Tome III. Livraison 47 - 48. Leiden-Paris: E.J. Brill - Editions G. -P. Maisonneuve & Larose S.A., 1967.

Mordtmann J.H. Himyar // Enzyklopaedie des Islam. Bd. II. Leiden-Leipzig: Verlagsbuchhandlug vormals E.J. Brill - Otto Harrassovitz, 1927.

Mas'udi. Les Praires d' or.... Index gènèraux... par Ch. Pellat. Beyrouth: Publications de l'Universitè Libanaise, 1979.

[Rosenthal F.] A History of Muslim Historiography. By Franz Rosenthal. Second revised Edition. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968.

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