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Majnun Layli
(All of the below poems are attributed to
"Majnun" Qays ibn Mulawwah.)
I love every name that is the same as hers,
or like to it, or in any way resembles it.
Often has someone called out, when we were
on Mina's slopes, and has stirred unwittingly
my heart's griefs; he has called by the name
Layli someone other than my love, and it was
as though by the very word 'Layli' he caused
a bird in my breast to fly up...
I fell in love with her
When she was small
Her breasts did not bud
As her playmates could recall
That day was remote
But tears choked my throat
When I remembered
How we tendered a small goat
Our love, like us grew
It is old, it is new;
I wish neither of us grew,
Nor did the goats too
My life to Layli, I gave.
If from Layli I am deprived,
Bring my coffin and dig my grave
Because my death has arrived.
I lay down under the moon's beam,
While love thoughts flowed in a stream.
I forced myself to sleep,
Hoping to see you in a dream.
Layli, they say, is ill
And in a sad condition.
I wish I were,
Her treating physician.
My heart is firmly seized
by a bird's claws.
My heart is tightly squeezed,
When Layli's name flows.
My body is tightly bound,
When the wide world I found
Is like a finger ring around.
I am mad with love and desire
And my heart burns with fire
When someone calls Layli's name,
My chest will burn with fire's flame.
My soul clung to yours before we were created,
Before we were weaved, before we were in the cradle.
Our love has grown and developed with ourselves;
Death cannot break the promise of this love,
It will survive all the trials of fate
And visit us among the shadows of the tomb
In the depths of the grave.
It shall shelter us when night falls upon Eden.
Above words attributed to Qays ibn Mulawwah
Whether Majnun existed or whether he was a fictive character is an issue than can be debated. Many believe however that he existed and that he is the sole author many passionate love poems. What is certain is that the story of Layli and Majnun exists and that it is famous in the Islamic world. It is a tragic tale of endless love, much like the later stories of Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet in Europe. It has spread and has been told in legends, songs, poems, plays and epics extending from the Caucasus to Africa and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It tells about Qays ibn al-Mulawwah who fell in love with his cousin Layli bint Mahdiy (d.688), better known as Layli al-cAmiriya. They were both from the same tribe and used to spend a lot of time together, tending their parents, flocks in a mountain called al-Tawbad. Layli returned Qays' love quietly while became so obsessively in love with her that he started writing romantic passionate poems about her. When Qays' poetry became very famous and the people started to discuss them and recite them, Layli's parents became very annoyed about all the noise they caused around her and decided to marry her off to Ward ibn Muhammad in order to save her reputation. It is then that Qays became desperate and known as Majnun Layli "driven mad by Layli". His family tried to marry him with other women, but he refused to take another.
His faithfulness to Layli is illustrated by this story:
"Some women from his tribe sat with him and said:
"Why have you isolated yourself? What do you see in Layli
when she is just a woman among many other women? Is it not
better that you love one of us that we reciprocate your feelings
and you can get your reason back and your body will heal?"
He then answered: "If i was able to transfer the love i
have for her to you, i would have done so, and then i would
have taken away my love from everyone after her and i would
have lived among the people in peace."
And then they told him: "What is it that infatuated you in her?"
He said: "Everything that i have seen, contemplated and
heard has infatuated me. By God, i haven't seen anything at all
in her unless that it was beautiful in my eyes. And i have tried
hard to find something in her that was ugly or disgraceful in
order to forget her, but i did not find anythng."
Before that Layli married she visited Qays once and tried to
raise him from his sickness and despair, which is illustrated
by this story:
"When Majnun became more desperate, his mother visited
Layli and said to her: "Qays has become so madly in love with
you and he neither eats nor drinks anymore. Perhaps that you
shoould visit him for a little while so that he gets his senses
back."
Layli said: "At day i cannot come... but at night."
And she came at night and said to him: "O Qays, your
mother states that you have become mad because of me
and that you neither eat nor drink. Pray to God for His mercy
and control yourself!"
So he cried... and she cried with him, and they talked to-
gether until dawn. Then she bade farewell to him."
Qays' family tried to make Layli's father change his mind
and marry his daughtedr off with him, but without any success.
Layli's father was stubborn and considered that Qays has
destroyed his daughters' reputation with his poems and
that he must defend her honour before the whole tribe.
Qays would never be allowed to marry Layli and Layli
shall marry Ward.
Qays' father took him to Mecca so that he becomes
cured from his passion, but this didn't help him, as this
story tells:
"When they were walking in the Kaaba, his father said
to him: "...Pray to God that He frees you from your love
to Layli."
... But then Majnun said: "O God, do so that my love for
Layli always grows... and do not ever let me forget her!"
It is not so strange that such a passion awakens the jealous
spirit. Majnun and Layli's husband did not have the warmest
regard for one another. The following episode reveals:
"When they returned from Mecca, Majnun happened to run
into Layli's husband... and he asked him:
"By Your God, have you embraced Layli
before dawn or kissed her mouth?
and has Layli's radiance revealed itself to you
like the damp daisy in its radiance?"
Ward replied: "If you want me to swear by God, yes, I've done
so." And he recited:
"I have embraced her and kissed her cheek
like a rose with a reviving scent,
and i have bent over her mouth
and drank from a wine
with which i could calm the worries in my heart."
So Majnun took to pieces of burning coal in his hands
that he squeezed until he fainted,"
The love between Majnun and Layli was not only
platonic in spite of the fact that she is described as pure.
"Once when Layli's husband and her father traveled to
Mecca, Layli sent a servant to Majnun, inviting him to
visit her. She said to him: "Come to me every night as long
as the people are away."
He was then able to pass the time with her until they
returned."
I wish we were
two deer grazing in distant valleys,
in green fields where the Hawzan-herbs grow.
I wish we were two doves in the desert,
flying to our nest in the evening.
I wish we were two sharks in the streams,
rocked in the evening by the sea.
I dream, i see us:
my life, your life together!
Majnun ('Madman') is the name by which the semi-legendary seventh-century poet Qays ibn Mulawwah is commonly known. His ill-fated love for Layli sent him mad and he withdrew into the desert, where the wild beasts were his only companions. The story of Majnun and Layli was popular with Arab and Persian poets and painters. Layli and Majnun it is believed met a final time before their deaths. Both fainted upon first sight of one another (for true love must be kept secret, as in a vision they conversed). Layli's elderly messenger attempted to revive his mistress while wild animals stood vigil to protect the pair from unwelcome intruders. Majnun was later found dead in the wilderness in 688 AD. Near an unknown woman's grave. He had carved three verses of poetry on a rock near the grave. It is believed that it was her grave.
I see, i dream, and even death unites us,
in the grave's bed, side by side, together!
A resting place far away from the world,
O well concealed grave!
There we will rise
to experience the resurrection's day,
the new life and the eternal union!
"Majnun" Qays ibn Mulawwah.)
I love every name that is the same as hers,
or like to it, or in any way resembles it.
Often has someone called out, when we were
on Mina's slopes, and has stirred unwittingly
my heart's griefs; he has called by the name
Layli someone other than my love, and it was
as though by the very word 'Layli' he caused
a bird in my breast to fly up...
I fell in love with her
When she was small
Her breasts did not bud
As her playmates could recall
That day was remote
But tears choked my throat
When I remembered
How we tendered a small goat
Our love, like us grew
It is old, it is new;
I wish neither of us grew,
Nor did the goats too
My life to Layli, I gave.
If from Layli I am deprived,
Bring my coffin and dig my grave
Because my death has arrived.
I lay down under the moon's beam,
While love thoughts flowed in a stream.
I forced myself to sleep,
Hoping to see you in a dream.
Layli, they say, is ill
And in a sad condition.
I wish I were,
Her treating physician.
My heart is firmly seized
by a bird's claws.
My heart is tightly squeezed,
When Layli's name flows.
My body is tightly bound,
When the wide world I found
Is like a finger ring around.
I am mad with love and desire
And my heart burns with fire
When someone calls Layli's name,
My chest will burn with fire's flame.
My soul clung to yours before we were created,
Before we were weaved, before we were in the cradle.
Our love has grown and developed with ourselves;
Death cannot break the promise of this love,
It will survive all the trials of fate
And visit us among the shadows of the tomb
In the depths of the grave.
It shall shelter us when night falls upon Eden.
Above words attributed to Qays ibn Mulawwah
Whether Majnun existed or whether he was a fictive character is an issue than can be debated. Many believe however that he existed and that he is the sole author many passionate love poems. What is certain is that the story of Layli and Majnun exists and that it is famous in the Islamic world. It is a tragic tale of endless love, much like the later stories of Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet in Europe. It has spread and has been told in legends, songs, poems, plays and epics extending from the Caucasus to Africa and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It tells about Qays ibn al-Mulawwah who fell in love with his cousin Layli bint Mahdiy (d.688), better known as Layli al-cAmiriya. They were both from the same tribe and used to spend a lot of time together, tending their parents, flocks in a mountain called al-Tawbad. Layli returned Qays' love quietly while became so obsessively in love with her that he started writing romantic passionate poems about her. When Qays' poetry became very famous and the people started to discuss them and recite them, Layli's parents became very annoyed about all the noise they caused around her and decided to marry her off to Ward ibn Muhammad in order to save her reputation. It is then that Qays became desperate and known as Majnun Layli "driven mad by Layli". His family tried to marry him with other women, but he refused to take another.
His faithfulness to Layli is illustrated by this story:
"Some women from his tribe sat with him and said:
"Why have you isolated yourself? What do you see in Layli
when she is just a woman among many other women? Is it not
better that you love one of us that we reciprocate your feelings
and you can get your reason back and your body will heal?"
He then answered: "If i was able to transfer the love i
have for her to you, i would have done so, and then i would
have taken away my love from everyone after her and i would
have lived among the people in peace."
And then they told him: "What is it that infatuated you in her?"
He said: "Everything that i have seen, contemplated and
heard has infatuated me. By God, i haven't seen anything at all
in her unless that it was beautiful in my eyes. And i have tried
hard to find something in her that was ugly or disgraceful in
order to forget her, but i did not find anythng."
Before that Layli married she visited Qays once and tried to
raise him from his sickness and despair, which is illustrated
by this story:
"When Majnun became more desperate, his mother visited
Layli and said to her: "Qays has become so madly in love with
you and he neither eats nor drinks anymore. Perhaps that you
shoould visit him for a little while so that he gets his senses
back."
Layli said: "At day i cannot come... but at night."
And she came at night and said to him: "O Qays, your
mother states that you have become mad because of me
and that you neither eat nor drink. Pray to God for His mercy
and control yourself!"
So he cried... and she cried with him, and they talked to-
gether until dawn. Then she bade farewell to him."
Qays' family tried to make Layli's father change his mind
and marry his daughtedr off with him, but without any success.
Layli's father was stubborn and considered that Qays has
destroyed his daughters' reputation with his poems and
that he must defend her honour before the whole tribe.
Qays would never be allowed to marry Layli and Layli
shall marry Ward.
Qays' father took him to Mecca so that he becomes
cured from his passion, but this didn't help him, as this
story tells:
"When they were walking in the Kaaba, his father said
to him: "...Pray to God that He frees you from your love
to Layli."
... But then Majnun said: "O God, do so that my love for
Layli always grows... and do not ever let me forget her!"
It is not so strange that such a passion awakens the jealous
spirit. Majnun and Layli's husband did not have the warmest
regard for one another. The following episode reveals:
"When they returned from Mecca, Majnun happened to run
into Layli's husband... and he asked him:
"By Your God, have you embraced Layli
before dawn or kissed her mouth?
and has Layli's radiance revealed itself to you
like the damp daisy in its radiance?"
Ward replied: "If you want me to swear by God, yes, I've done
so." And he recited:
"I have embraced her and kissed her cheek
like a rose with a reviving scent,
and i have bent over her mouth
and drank from a wine
with which i could calm the worries in my heart."
So Majnun took to pieces of burning coal in his hands
that he squeezed until he fainted,"
The love between Majnun and Layli was not only
platonic in spite of the fact that she is described as pure.
"Once when Layli's husband and her father traveled to
Mecca, Layli sent a servant to Majnun, inviting him to
visit her. She said to him: "Come to me every night as long
as the people are away."
He was then able to pass the time with her until they
returned."
I wish we were
two deer grazing in distant valleys,
in green fields where the Hawzan-herbs grow.
I wish we were two doves in the desert,
flying to our nest in the evening.
I wish we were two sharks in the streams,
rocked in the evening by the sea.
I dream, i see us:
my life, your life together!
Majnun ('Madman') is the name by which the semi-legendary seventh-century poet Qays ibn Mulawwah is commonly known. His ill-fated love for Layli sent him mad and he withdrew into the desert, where the wild beasts were his only companions. The story of Majnun and Layli was popular with Arab and Persian poets and painters. Layli and Majnun it is believed met a final time before their deaths. Both fainted upon first sight of one another (for true love must be kept secret, as in a vision they conversed). Layli's elderly messenger attempted to revive his mistress while wild animals stood vigil to protect the pair from unwelcome intruders. Majnun was later found dead in the wilderness in 688 AD. Near an unknown woman's grave. He had carved three verses of poetry on a rock near the grave. It is believed that it was her grave.
I see, i dream, and even death unites us,
in the grave's bed, side by side, together!
A resting place far away from the world,
O well concealed grave!
There we will rise
to experience the resurrection's day,
the new life and the eternal union!