Majnun (redirected from Layla and Majnun)

Majnun 

sobriquet of a half-legendary Arab Bedouin poet of the late seventh century, Qays ibn Mulauwah of the Banu Amir tribe, famed for his devoted love for the tribeswoman Laylah. According to tradition, Laylah’s father married her to another, and the unhappy poet went away into the desert, where he composed verses in honor of his beloved.

The prose tale of Majnun and Laylah, which originally took the form of a commentary to the poet’s verses (whose authenticity it is difficult to establish), subsequently began an independent existence and inspired many poets and prose writers of the East.

REFERENCES

Fotieva, V. S. “Materialy o liricheskikh poetakh omeiadskogo perioda (poety-beduiny).” In Voprosy istorii i literatury stran Zarubezhnogo Vostoka. Moscow, 1960.
Fil’shtinskii, I. M. Arabskaia klassicheskaia literatura. Moscow, 1965.