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Layla and Majnun - The Classic Love Story of Persian Literature

Nizami Nizami and Colin Turner

Last accessed on Monday July 26, 2021

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Yellow highlight | Location: 59 Note | Location: 59

The lightness of heart that falling in love can bring; the thrill of mutual affection; the sorrows of separation; the pains of doubt and jealousy; the bitterness of love betrayed; the grief that comes with loss — Nizami maps the whole of the mysterious world of love, leaving no region uncharted.

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Only man can know the pain of having something he does not need, while needing something he does not have …

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Yellow highlight | Page: 137 Note | Page: 137

Believe me, nothing will come of running away; run until the day you die and still you will get nowhere. What use is all this suffering? What good does it do? Who does it help? Do you want to undo yourself completely?

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‘You must treat life as though this were your first day and also your last. Behave as though death were at your door this very moment; then, when death does arrive, you will have no fear. For only those who “die” before they die may hope to escape death’s jaws.’

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The poor demented fool was a prisoner in love’s dark citadel, a stronghold from which no-one could free him.

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Each soul is but a flash of light, born to shine for a brief moment before fading for ever. In this realm, everything is destined to perish; nothing is made to last. But if you ‘die’ before you die, turning away from the world and its Janus face, you will achieve the supreme salvation of life eternal. It is up to you: you are your own fate, and whatever is, or will be, lies within you. And in the end, good will be united with good, and evil with evil. Your secret is shouted from the mountain-tops: when the echo returns, you recognise the voice as your own

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The old man had been unable to rescue him, but at least he had shared his son’s suffering. Majnun’s pain had been his pain and their tears had become a single river. But now Majnun’s tears must fall alone.

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The selfless love of an animal for its master often surpasses in intensity the love of one human being for another. Majnun’s animal companions were shining examples of such selfless love. For example, whenever Majnun wished to sleep, the desert fox would sweep a place clean and free of thorns for him with its tail, while the wild onager would offer its neck as a pillow. Then, while Majnun lay sleeping, the lion would keep watch over him, ready to ward off any enemies, while the wolf and the puma would scout the camp for unwelcome visitors or intruders. Each beast did its duty, watching over and protecting Majnun with a sincerity of intention that touched his heart.

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Naturally, the guard was afraid to tell exactly what he had seen that day; how could he confess that the condemned youth had escaped almost certain death by showing affection to the hounds from hell and winning them over with gifts?   And so he approached the King, bowed, and with a trembling voice said, ‘Your Majesty! This young man cannot be human; indeed, I declare that he must be some kind of jinn or angel for whom God in His compassion has worked a miracle.

Note:Jinn is a cover

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What of Majnun? Well, he was kind to the animals not because he was afraid of them, but because kindness was part of his being; he could not help but treat them with respect and compassion. Consequently, the beasts who gathered around him came to love him as much as he loved them. Their loyalty to him was unswerving and, as we have yet to see, they stayed with him right to the very end. Is the significance of this anecdote easy to grasp? Do you understand what it means, dear reader? It means that if you, too, follow the example of Majnun, you will not have to suffer the torments and miseries of this transient world.

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I am a prisoner and I can do nothing. I have no one to talk to, no one in whom I can confide; were I to open my heart to those around me, ignominy would be my only reward. Honey turns to poison in my mouth and everything I touch turns to dust. Who knows how I feel? Who knows how I suffer? I put a brave face on it all, covering my suffering with a thin veil of smiles and laughter, but all the time I am burning, burning, burning!

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You cannot imagine how much of a madman, a “majnun”, I have become. For you, not only have I lost the world — I have lost myself.

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After all, birds are caught in snares because they are greedy for bait; are human beings any different? Our hunger is the snare in which Fate entraps us: the greater the greed, the greater the danger. ‘Only those who are content with little, as you are, can claim to be truly free; only they are masters of their own worlds.

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He had realised that only those are free who have no worldly desires.’

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And what is human life, if not a flash of lightning in the dark? It is as nothing: even it were to last a thousand years, compared with eternity it is but the twinkling of an eye. From the outset, life bears death’s seal: life and death are entwined like lovers, closer in nature than twins born joined at birth.

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Follow this writer’s example: be like a candle and burn your own treasures — only then will the world, which is now your ruler, become your slave.

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For proximity brings disaster; for lovers there is safety only in separation.

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The fact is that Fate and human desire are usually at odds: when man is in conflict with what has been written for him in Fate’s book, he would do well to acquiesce rather than rebel. For man forgets that what appears to be poison sometimes turns out to be honey.

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Yellow highlight | Page: 238 Note | Page: 238

What weapons did she have but patience and deceit?

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