Abd al-Majid, do not keep him out of arrogance, inherit the king as sultan, then sultan

The supporters of your religion are truly Osman's family to God how much they have sacrificed their lives and bodies

These are verses from a poem organized by Prince Abdul Qadir Al-Jazaery in praise of Sultan Abdul Majeed. The prince respected the Ottoman state from a "legitimate" point of view, as it represented the "Islamic Caliphate State" and according to historical documents that document the period of his rule in Algeria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had presented his Algerian counterpart, Abdel Majid Tabun, a document from the Turkish archives containing a letter from Prince Abdel Qader Al Jazairi to the Ottoman Sultan Abdel Majid I, after a meeting they held at the Presidential Complex in the capital, Ankara, a few days ago.

Erdogan pointed out that there are two paintings in the hall, one of which includes a message in Arabic and its translation, sent by Prince Abdul Qadir Al-Jazaery to Sultan Abdul Majeed I, congratulating him on his ascension to the throne of the Ottoman Empire, and the other painting includes a picture of the Prince.

The Turkish president said, "These two documents are from our archives, and we present them today as an important gift and memory from us to His Excellency the Algerian President." He pointed out that the letter dates back to December 14, 1841, citing the rooting of Turkish-Algerian relations.

Prince's relationship with the Ottoman Empire

In this context, Kemal Khoja, an expert in Ottoman archives and a famous translator of Ottoman documents, stated that Prince Abdul Qadir considered the Ottoman Empire to be the nation's impregnable fortress that protected its entity from its greedy enemies with its bounties and sanctities.

Khoja indicated that Emir Abdelkader asked for weapons to break the siege on his forces (Al-Jazeera)

Khoja told Al Jazeera Net, "The sons of Prince Abdul Qadir continued their friendly relationship with Sultan Abdul Majeed, and two of them, Muhammad and Ahmed, reached the title of Pasha and occupied prestigious positions during his reign."

On the story of the letter that the Turkish president gave his Algerian counterpart, the Ottoman archive expert confirmed that Emir Abdul Qadir sent that message to Sultan Abdul Majeed I eleven years after the French occupation of Algeria, congratulating him on his ascension to the throne of the Ottoman Empire, and explaining to him their relentless struggle against the occupation from the reality of his belonging to the caliphate. Ottoman umbrella for all Muslims.

Khoja - who spent about 50 years of his life translating Ottoman documents - added that "Prince Abdul Qadir sent another message to the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majeed I asking the Ottoman Empire to provide him with weapons to break the siege on his forces besieged by the French forces, and he also submitted the request. The same for Britain, and accordingly the Ottoman Empire replied that it would wait for the British response and then respond to the Emir.

He referred to the existence of a document from the ruler of Constantine (eastern Algeria), the Daye Ahmed, requesting the Ottoman Empire to join his mandate with the Ottoman Empire to be under its protection.

According to the translator of the Ottoman documents Khoja, there are many other documents related to Prince Abdul Qadir after he was captured and released, then he came to Istanbul and moved to the city of Bursa, and after that his decision to reside in Damascus, where the Ottoman Empire allocated a farm and housing for him and his entourage of about 100 people. .

He added, "France's occupation of Algeria came at the end of the Ottoman Empire and its period of weakness, as it was fighting on several fronts, including the Hejaz front and the European front, despite that Sultan Abdul Majeed provided many humanitarian aids to Emir Abdul Qadir."

A document from the Ottoman archive of one of the letters of Prince Abdul Qadir Al-Jazaery to the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majeed I (Al-Jazeera)

For his part, historian Ali Al-Sallabi wrote in his blog published on Al-Jazeera Net, "Prince Abdul Qadir was interested in supporting the Ottoman Empire and communicating with its successors and sultans, in January 1865 he resolved to travel to Astana to visit the Caliph Sultan Abdul Aziz Khan, so he received him, honored him and grew up with him, so he asked From him to pardon and release the exiles to the Greek islands of Cyprus and Rhodes from those who were involved in the events of 1860 in the Levant, so he accepted his request and issued a high order to demobilize them.”

He pointed out that the book "The Life of Abdul Qadir" written by Charles Henry Churchill distorted the image of the Ottoman Empire through his imagination and lies, according to his estimation.

Biography and career

And Prince Abdul Qadir bin Mohi Al-Din, known in the Arab East as "Abdul Qadir Al-Jazaery", is described as the founder of the Algerian state, a writer, poet, philosopher and politician.

Prince Abdul Qadir was born near the Algerian city of camp in 1807, and his family belonged to the Idrisids, and they were rulers of the regions of the Maghreb and Andalusia, and his father was one of the symbols and sheikhs of the Qadiriyya Sufi order in the country.

In 1830, Algeria was subjected to French colonialism, which prompted Emir Abdelkader to gather the tribes there, because of his leadership and lineage, and pledged allegiance to lead the revolution against the occupation, and began to form the army and achieve successive victories in many cities, so he is considered the leader of the first popular revolution against the French forces after its conquest of Algeria.

In 1847 he was imprisoned in France, and remained captive until 1852, until Napoleon III released him after his ascension to power, and then left for Istanbul, where he met Sultan Abdul Majid, where he settled and in Bursa for a while, and then traveled to Damascus, where he lived the rest His life until his death in 1883 at the age of 76, and he was recommended to be buried near the tomb of Ibn Arabi in the Salhiya cemetery.

After Algeria's independence, his body was transferred there in 1965 with a large military funeral, headed by the late President Houari Boumediene.

The Algerian authorities say that the period of French colonialism (1830-1962) witnessed murders against nearly 5 million people, in addition to campaigns of displacement and looting of wealth, and the theft of thousands of documents and historical and archaeological pieces, including those dating back to the Ottoman era (1515-1830).