قْيْس و ليلى
Qais and Laila
Qais Ibn Almolawah is considered one of the greatest ( أعْظَم ) Arab poets who lived in the first Hijri century. He is known for his love poetryشِعْر الغَزَل for his beloved Laila.
Both lovers were born to the same tribe, Banu Amir بنو أمير, and since childhood, the two have grown to admire one another and the feelings they had gradually developed into love. However, in their adulthood, when Qais proposed to her father, the latter refused. Qais became obsessed with Laila so much so that he was dubbed by his tribal community “ Majnun Laila مجنون ليلى , which means “The One Who is Insane About Laila”. To this day, Majnun Laila is a synonym for someone who is madly in love with a woman.
He was not crazy (مَجْنون ) but his intense ( شَديد )love for Laila is the reason for this name, as his love exceeded (تَجاوَزَ )all limits, and became a perfect example for lovers (عُشّاق ).
According to some resources in the Arab heritage ( التُراث العربي ) , the reason behind the marriage refusal is the animosity between the two lovers’ families.
Devastated by their refusal, Qais went alone to live in the desert .الصَّحَراء While Qais he was there, Laila married another person, but her love for Qais remained in her heart( قَلْب ). So she thought of escaping ( الهُروب )) to the desert to be with her lover( حَبيب ) in his loneliness وِحْدة )) . It was said that Laila met ( قابَلَتْ ) him in the desert after her husband’s death( مَوْت ), and after a while ( فَتْرة ) Laila died, then Qais died too and death finally united( وَحَّدَ ) the two lovers.
The impact ( تَأثير ) of Qais and Laila story on literature ( الأدَب ) :
Qais’s poetry influenced (أثَّرَ ) Persian الفارِسيّ )) , Indian( الهِنْدِيّ ), Turkish التُّرْكيّ )) and Urdu ( الأُرْدويّ ) literature. His story was one of the five stories قِصَص )) mentioned in the Persian poet ( شاعِر ) Nizami Ganjavi’s book the Five Treasures( الكُنوز الخَمْسة ).