The story of Layla and Qais

 

Love stories in the Arab heritage

 The Arab heritage abounds with many stories of love and adoration that immortalized the highest human feelings, the most famous of which are: the story of Antarah and Abla, Jamil and Buthaina, Katheer and Izza, Majnoon Laila, Abu Al-Atahiya and Attaba, which often ended with the two heroes of the story moving away from each other, as is the case with the story of Qais bin Al-Mallouh, who fell in love with his cousin Laila bint Mahdi bin Rabia bin Amer, who was called Laila Al-Amriya.

The story of Layla and Qais

 Layla and Qais bin Al-Malouh are related. Layla is Qais’ cousin, and they grew up together when they were young, as they tended the family’s livestock during their boyhood days, and they played together, and this is evident in the verses of his poetry in which he said: Layla learned that she had amulets The dust of her breasts did not appear to be of any size We are young to care for them, I wish we were To this day we have not grown up, nor has the Bahamas grown up The summary of the story is that after Layla grew up, she was veiled from him according to the customs of the pre-Islamic era, so Qais found intensified for his cousin, so he was remembering his childhood days, and flirting with them with poems that remained immortal in the memory of literature until our time, and after that Qais came to his uncle to ask for the hand of his cousin Laila, after he collected a large dowry and gave her fifty red camels, but her family refused to marry her to him. It was common for the Arabs in the past to refuse to marry those who had a reputation for love, especially if the beloved was flirted in the lover's poetry; They believed that marrying a person who declared his love was a disgrace and a scandal. In other accounts, it is said that the reason for refusing to marry is the existence of a disagreement between Laila's father and Qais' father regarding money and inheritance.

 Lily's marriage

 At that time, he proposed to Laila, another suitor named Ward bin Muhammad Al-Aqili from Thaqif, and gave ten camels with her shepherd. Laila's father agreed to this marriage, and married his daughter to Ward against her will. 

The impact of the story of Qais and Layla in literature

 

There is a collection of poetry by Qais ibn al-Mulawwah, in which he talks about his love and passion for his beloved Laila. It also influenced Persian literature. His story was one of the five stories in the Book of Five Treasures, by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The story also influenced Indian, Turkish, and Urdu literature.