#layla majnun

[tunisian]

qays ibn al-mulawwah (tr. by me)

[wordsmithic]

How an ancient Greek story became the Islamic World's favourite romance

Metiochus and Parthenope (Greek: Μητίοχος καὶ Παρθενόπη, Mētiokhos kai Parthenopē) is an ancient Greek romance novel. In a translation by the eleventh-century poet ‘Unṣurī, it became the Persian romance epic Vāmiq u ‘Adhrā, and the basis for a wide range of stories about the 'Lover and the Virgin' in western medieval and Islamicate cultures.

Metiochus and Parthenope in a mosaic found in Zeugma

The Arabic Script

Vāmiq means 'the lover' and ‘Adhrā means 'virgin' in Arabic, corresponding to the connotations of virginity in the name Parthenope, from Greek parthenos 'young girl, virgin'. Other names in ‘Unṣurī's text are transposed from the Greek, demonstrating derivation from Metiochus and Parthenope, probably via an Arabic translation.

In the 10th century, Ibn al-Nadīm records that Sahl b. Hārūn (d. 830 AD), secretary to Caliph al-Ma'mūn in Baghdad, composed a work of the same title. This must derive from the Greek text, whether by direct translation or through an intermediary — conceivably even an earlier Persian translation. Meanwhile al-Bīrūnī (d. c. 1051) claimed to have translated an Arabic work of this name into New Persian. Al-Bīrūnī's text might, then, have been the source for ‘Unṣurī's poem.

The Greek Story

Metiochus is the eldest son of Miltiades. However, his stepmother Hegesipyle plots against him in favour of her own children. So, along with his friend Theophanes, he flees his home (on the Thracian Chersonese), seeking the court of his distant relative Polycrates on Samos. There he meets Polycrates's daughter Parthenope at the temple of Hera. They fall instantly in love. Polycrates invites Metiochus to a symposium, and the discussions on love at this event are the main surviving part of the Greek text.

The Layla and Majnun motif

Layla and Majnun (Arabic: مجنون ليلى majnūn laylā "Layla's Mad Lover"; Persian: لیلی و مجنون, romanized: laylâ-o-majnun) is an old story of Arab origin, about the 7th-century Arabic poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his lover Layla bint Mahdi (or as Layla al-Aamiriya). The Layla-Majnun theme passed from Arabic to Persian, Turkish, and Indian languages. It is a popular poem praising their love story.

Further reading:

Cf. Thomas Hägg, 'The Oriental Reception of Greek Novels: A Survey with Some Preliminary Considerations', Symbolae Osloenses, 61 (1986), 99–131 (p. 106)

T. Hägg, B. Utas (2003). The Virgin and Her Lover: Fragments of an Ancient Greek Novel and a Persian Epic Poem. BRILL. ISBN 9789004132603.

Divider's source

[soracities]

Just wanted to tell you that it was thru your blog, I discovered the line “speak of her over my grave and watch how she brings me back to life” which started an interest in Arabic poetry, and now when I look at my copy of Majnun and Layla, I think of u <3

this is one of the most beautiful compliments anyone has ever given me, anon, i truly don't have words.....i wish the gentlest day ahead of you and so much more poetry awaiting you in the future 🤍

[garvalhaminho]

may i just say i dislike every man in caraval but the girlypops keep me going. donatella VERSACE DRAGNA 💜

[dreaming-in-daylight]

5 senses

It's your voice, smooth and sweet  I hear in the trees, echoing my name I freeze, and listen close Only to hear just the crisp wind howling

It's your smile, soft and kind I see in my dreams, with another man The one your father chose, stronger and better than I You tell him that you love him, and I'm sucked into reality

It's your perfume, lavender and vanilla I smell as I spray it into the air, chest rising It reminds me of the days I held you close Before we never got to say goodbye 

It's your rose, thorny but beautiful I feel around my fingers, the petals a deep red The color that you called your favorite, I offered you You gave it back, saying I'm not your destiny

It's your apple, bitter but sweet I taste on my tongue, from that big old tree You used to love climbing with me, splinters in our hair I can't ever bring myself to climb without you

On the day you left, You took my five senses with you

[doukeshi-kun]

I no longer know who I am. I keep asking myself, “Who are you? What is your name? Are you in love, and if so, with whom? Are you loved, and if so, by whom?”

[melcholune]

Just share it

That is easy for you to say anon. 😞

Definitely will think about it though.

[loneberry]

Are Majnun’s eyes within the clouds, that they Shed Layli’s cheeks’ hue on each rose below?

—Couplet from a poem by the tenth-century poet Rabe’eh, the earliest-known woman poet to write in Persian

.

Commentary by translator Dick Davis:

“...we come to Layli and Majnun, star-crossed lovers from an originally seventh-century Arabic tale that quickly spread all over the Islamic world. Since he is a tragic figure, unable to be united with his beloved, Majnun is often represented as weeping and this is why he is mentioned in the third stanza of the poem as being “within the clouds”—he is weeping the dew onto the flowers below him (dew continues the implication that the poem is describing a scene in the early morning, which is considered to be the loveliest and most refreshing time of day). Layli’s cheeks are imagined as red, either as an indication of her beauty or of her flushed, bewildered distress, or both, so Majnun’s tears, which are the same color as her cheeks, are red. The conceit is that the tears are bloody, indicating that Majnun has wept so long and so hard that his eyes are injured and he weeps blood; with the same implication of relentless injurious weeping, tears are almost always referred to as red in pre-modern Persian verse (an exception is when they are compared to pearls). So the roses are red because Majnun has wept his red tears onto them.”

From The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women

[majestativa]

In my heart dwell a thousand Majnuns, and a thousand Laylas.

— Siham Bouhlal, [Qui est Madjnoun]

[dandyliooon]

Majnun

They tell me "Crush the desire for Layla in your heart!" But I implore thee, oh my God, Let it grow even stronger. Take what is left of my life and add it to Layla's. Let me never demand from her as much as a single hair, even if my pain reduces me to the width of one! Let her punish and castigate me: her wine alone shall fill my cup, and my name shall never appear without her seal. My life shall be sacrificed for her beauty, my blood shall be spilled freely for her, even though I bum for her painfully, like a candle, none of my days shall ever be free of this pain. Let me love, oh my God, Love for love's sake, and make my love a hundred times as great as it was and is!

-- Nizami Ganjavi --

An excerpt from the epic poem written about the love story of Layla and Majnun [Majnun: crazy; he was literally crazy in love with Layla]

[belle-keys]

“I sought not fire, yet my heart is all flame. Layla, this love is not of earth.”

- quote from Layla and Majnun in Chain of Gold

“All Hell’s power could not extinguish that love.”

- quote from Grace about James and Cordelia in Chain of Thorns

“Let him be the effigy atop the tomb of a knight, she thought; let him be that warrior. He had wrought his will, and it had been more powerful than a Prince of Hell’s.”

- quote from Cordelia about James in Chain of Thorns

[ishqher]

if grief is all the love that is left unexpressed can i not channel it to my creator who created my love and that which is fleeting while my creator is not

[alliwanttodoiscollectpoetry]

Louis Aragon

[rouhalqamar]

Qays and Layla's story (Majnun Layla)

There are many versions of this story depicting their own ideas and scenarios, however I wanted to find out the real story of the famous Majnun Layla. It is an old story of Arab origin around the 7th century about Qays ibn-almulawwah and his cousin Layla bint-mehdi (known as 3amiriya). This love story began since childhood as they used to herd their sheeps. They started falling in love however, the two started growing and around that time, women didn't go out much as it was prohibited and seen as shameful.

Qays started composing poems about her, often mentioning her name and reading them out loud on streets. Layla and Qays would stop seeing each other eventually and it caused Qays to be heart-struck, nonetheless not losing any hope. He decided to ask her hand in marriage and propose to her father. He asked for a very expensive price for his daughter just so Qays would give up on her and leave her be. Despite the very expensive mehr, Qays was deeply in love with Layla that he worked many jobs just to collect enough money for Layla's mehr and marry her.

When Qays would feel exhausted at times he would remember Layla and how they passed their childhood. He consoled himself with their memories and recite this poem:

"احبك حب قد تمكن بالحجر له بين جلدي والعظام ظبيبو"

Meaning: "I love you such a love that is embedded in the stone and is between my skin and bones",

At this point, Qays saved enough for Layla's mehr and returned to his hometown, just to discover that his precious Leyla got married to another man called Ward. He noticed red henna on her hands which at that time meant that she was married. He said this poem:

"ولمّا تلاقينا على سفح رامة وجدت بنان العامرية أحمرا فقلت: خضبت الكف على فراقنا؟ قالت: معاذ الله ذلك ما جرى ولكنني لما رأيتك راحلاً بكيت دماً حتى بللت به الثرى مسحت بأطراف البنان مدامعي فصار خضاباً في اليدين كما ترى"

Which means: "When we met on the top of a hill I found Al Amiriya's (Layla) fingers red And I said: did you colour your hands in celebration of our separation? She said: God forbid, that did not happen But when I saw you leaving I cried blood until I wet the sand I cleaned my tears with my fingers And they became red as you can see ".

Qays was so devastated and heartbroken because he had no more hope for Layla and was so depressed that he wished he would die. During this time, Qays would visit her house every night crying and saying:

أَمُرُّ عَلى الدِيارِ دِيارِ لَيلى" أُقَبِّلَ ذا الجِدارَ وَذا الجِدارا وَما حُبُّ الدِيارِ شَغَفنَ قَلبي وَلَكِن حُبُّ ��َن سَكَنَ الدِيارا"

Which means: "I pass by the home of Layla ( where she used to live) And I kiss this wall and that wall It is not for the love of the house But for the one who lives in it"

Qays was severely depressed and stayed in the desert for a while and was starting to lose his sanity. He wished to see Layla's reflections and so he would stop eating or drinking anything his family would bring him hoping of seeing her shadow. He would say:

"وَإِنّي لَأَستَغشي وَما بِيَ نَعسَةٌ لَعَلَّ خَيالاً مِنكِ يَلقى خَيالِيا"

Which means: "Perhaps I could sleep just For my shadow to meet yours"

One day, he hallucinated and saw Layla running and started following her and he passed in front of a group of men performing prayer. He came to his senses and walked back to where he came from and the men stopped him asking, "Why did you not stop to come pray with us when you saw us?". He answered "I swear by God I did not see you praying as I was focused on Layla, and if you were in love with God as I am with Layla, you too would've not seen me and would have focused on your prayer". The men called him "Majnun Layla" which mean "crazy about Layla" because Qays really lost it and wasn't himself anymore.

His father decided to take him to Mecca and perform Hajj together and so they went. He would ask the men there to make duaa "pray" for his son because he has fallen in love with this girl and has basically lost his wits and for God to make it easy for Qays to forget Layla. However, Qays would go talk to the people his father was standing with and tell them to not believe his father and instead tell them:

"يا راب لا تاسلبني حوباها ابادان زيدني ليلى حوبان وا بها كيلفاتً وا لا تانسيني ديكراها ابادان وا يارحاما الله عبدان قالا امين"

Which means: "My God don't ever make me forget her love Increase my love for Layla And make it heavy And don't make me forget her memory ever And God forgive the ones that say amin"

The crowd followed Qays and started saying Amin. His father was angry and so he beat him. His family would call Layla ugly and short and asking him what do you like about her when there are better women. Qays answered them:

"يقولون لي الواشون ليلى قاسيراتٌ فلايتو درعا عاردو ليلى وا توليها"

Which means: " They tell me Layla is short, for I (would love her even if) the width and length of her arm (were the same)"

Qays implies that even if Layla was a square he would still deeply love her. One day Qays went to Ward and asked if he hugged or kissed her that day, Ward saw that he was a madman and decided to answer him saying yes he did hug and kiss Layla. Ward was with his friends around a fire and Qays lost his senses and put his hands in the fire till the it gave the scent of burned flesh. Time passed and Qays received news that Layla is sick in Iraq and said:

"يقولون لايلى مريضة بلعراق الا ليتني كنت الطبيب لمداويا"

Meaning: "They say Layla is sick in Iraq and I wished to be the doctor (treating her)"

"ألست وعدتني يا قلب أني إذا ما تبت عن ليلى تتوب؟ فها أنا تائبٌ عن حبِّ ليلى فما لكَ كلَّما ذُكرت تذوبُ ؟"

Meaning: "Didn't you promise me, my heart, that you would repent on Layla? And here I am repenting on Layla's love But why is it every time she is mentioned you melt?"

After some more time he received news that she passed away. He kept looking around for her grave and sat next to her until some people realised that he had died there. When they found him, next to him was a letter. In it was written:

" وقد يجمع الله الشتيتين بعدما يظنان كل الظن أن لا تلاقيا"

Meaning: "And God unites dispersed people when they totally think that they would never meet" Qays and Layla may have not united in life, however they united under the earth as their graves are next to each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNltnEU8tow

Ps: That is the poem when Qays returns and finds Layla married with red henna on her hands.

[elysianightt]

If only the wind could touch your lips and bring your kisses to me, but then I should be jealous of the wind and ashamed of myself for asking.

Nizami Ganjavi, in Layla and Majnun.