Scene from the Khamsa of Nizami, Persian, 153943

Although there has been a tradition of wall-paintings, especially in the Persianate

world, the best-surviving and highest developed form of painting in the Islamic world
is the miniature in illuminated manuscripts, or later as a single page for inclusion in a
muraqqa or bound album of miniatures and calligraphy. The tradition of the Persian
miniature has been dominant since about the 13th century, strongly influencing the
Ottoman miniature of Turkey and the Mughal miniature in India. Miniatures were
especially an art of the court, and because they were not seen in public, it has been
argued that constraints on the depiction of the human figure were much more
relaxed, and indeed miniatures often contain great numbers of small figures, and
from the 16th century portraits of single ones. Recent scholarship has noted that,
although surviving early examples are now uncommon, human figurative art was a
continuous tradition in Islamic lands in secular contexts (such as literature, science,
and history); as early as the 9th century, such art flourished during the Abbasid
Caliphate (c. 7491258, across Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Turkey,
Mesopotamia, and Persia).[17] Figurative wall painting in Mesopotamia, Syria, and
Egypt from this earlier time period is also mentioned in the sources.
The largest commissions of illustrated books were usually classics of Persian poetry
such as the epic Shahnameh, although the Mughals and Ottomans both produced
lavish manuscripts of more recent history with the autobiographies of the Mughal
emperors, and more purely military chronicles of Turkish conquests. Portraits of
rulers developed in the 16th century, and later in Persia, then becoming very
popular. Mughal portraits, normally in profile, are very finely drawn in a realist style,
while the best Ottoman ones are vigorously stylized. Album miniatures typically
featured picnic scenes, portraits of individuals or (in India especially) animals, or
idealized youthful beauties of either sex.
Chinese influences included the early adoption of the vertical format natural to a
book, which led to the development of a birds-eye view where a very carefully
depicted background of hilly landscape or palace buildings rises up to leave only a
small area of sky. The figures are arranged in different planes on the background,
with recession (distance from the viewer) indicated by placing more distant figures
higher up in the space, but at essentially the same size. The colours, which are often

very well preserved, are strongly contrasting, bright and clear. The tradition reached
a climax in the 16th and early 17th centuries, but continued until the early 19th
century, and has been revived in the 20th.

http://islamiccenter.org/painting/
http://tajikam.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=43

Laila and Majnun at School: Page from

the Khamsa of Nizami (Quintet of Nizami), A.H. 835 /143132 A.D.
Artist: possibly Mir Khalil; calligrapher: Ja'far
Herat, presentday Afghanistan
Ink, opaque watercolors, and gold on paper; 12.37 x 9 in. (31.3 x 22.9 cm)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1994 (1994.232.4)

"Laila and Majnun at School", Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Calligrapher: Ja'far Baisunghuri (active first half 15th century)
Author: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 11411217)
Object Name: Folio from an illustrated manuscript

Date: A.H. 835/ A.D. 143132

Geography: present-day Afghanistan, Herat
Culture: Islamic
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions: Page: H. 12 5/16 in. (31.3 cm) W. 9 in. (22.9cm) Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm) W.
14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
Classification: Codices
Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1994
Accession Number: 1994.232.4
On view in Gallery 455

Label
This splendid painting is from a manuscript of the frequently illustrated story of Laila and Majnun by
the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami of Ganja (a city in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan). It
was commissioned by the Timurid prince Baysunghur of Herat, one of the greatest bibliophiles in all
Islamic history, who gathered at his court the very best painters from Baghdad, Tabriz, Shiraz, and
Samarkand to illustrate his matchless collection of books. The illustration depicts Qais, the future
"mad one" (Majnun) for love, and Laila, his beloved, who meet for the first time as children at a
mosque school. The painting underscores the closely related aesthetics of figural painting and
abstract calligraphy, architectural tiling and royal carpet weaving in traditional Islamic civilization,
united here in a visual symphony of flat but dramatically colored patterns. The scene depicts the child
lovers framed in the mosque's prayer niche in order to emphasize their mystical status. These visual
conventions of Persian art, usually laden, as here, with Neoplatonic symbolism, crystallized in the
royal cities of Tabriz and then Herat at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and endured
for another 250 years in the court paintings of Iran, Turkey, and India.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Layla and Majnun (disambiguation).

"Majnun" redirects here. For places in Iran, see Majnun, Iran.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/455041?
=&imgno=0&tabname=object-information

A miniature of Nizami's work. Layla and Majnun meet for the last time before their deaths. Both have
fainted and Majnun's elderly messenger attempts to revive Layla while wild animals protect the pair from
unwelcome intruders. Late 16th-century illustration.

A Mughal miniature of Amir Khusro's version; Walters Art Museum

Layla and Majnun (English: Possessed by madness for Layla; Persian: ( Leyli o
Majnun); Arabic: ( Majnun Layla)) is a love story that originated as poem in

ancient Arabia,[1] later was adopted by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi who also wrote "Khosrow
and Shirin". It is the third of his five long narrative poems, Khamsa (the Quintet).
Qays and Layla fall in love with each other when they are young, but when they grow up Laylas
father doesn't allow them to be together. Qays becomes obsessed with her, and the community
gives him the epithet Majnun (, lit. "possessed"), the same epithet given to the semihistorical character Qays ibn al-Mulawwah of the Banu 'Amir tribe. Long before Nizami, the
legend circulated in anecdotal forms in Arabic akhbar. The early anecdotes and oral reports
about Majnun are documented in Kitab al-Aghani and Ibn Qutaybah's al-Shi'r wal-Shu'ara'. The
anecdotes are mostly very short, only loosely connected, and show little or no plot development.
[1]

Many imitations have been contrived of Nizami's work, several of which are original literary works
in their own right, including Amir Khusrow Dehlavi's Majnun o Leyli (completed in 1299),
and Jami's version, completed in 1484, amounts to 3,860 couplets. Two other notable imitations
are by Maktabi Shirazi and Hatefi (d. 1520), which became popular in Ottoman
Turkey and India. Sir William Jonespublished Hatefi's romance in Calcutta in 1788. The
popularity of the romance following Nizami's version is also evident from the references to it in
lyrical poetry and mystical mathnavisbefore the appearance of Nizami's romance, there are
just some allusions to Layla and Majnun in divans. The number and variety of anecdotes about
the lovers also increased considerably from the twelfth century onwards. Mystics contrived many
stories about Majnun to illustrate technical mystical concepts such
as fanaa (annihilation),divnagi (love-madness), self-sacrifice, etc. Nizami's work has been
translated into many languages

Story[edit]
Qays fell in love with Layla. He soon began composing poems about his love for her, mentioning
her name often. His unselfconscious efforts to woo the girl caused some locals to call him
"Majnun" (madman). When he asked for her hand in marriage, her father refused because it
would be a scandal for Layla to marry someone considered mentally unbalanced. Soon after,
Layla was married to another noble and rich merchant belonging to the Thaqif tribe in Ta'if. He
was described as a handsome white man with reddish cheeks whose name was Ward Althaqafi.
The Arabs called him Ward, meaning "rose" in Arabic.
When Majnun heard of her marriage, he fled the tribal camp and began wandering the
surrounding desert. His family eventually gave up hope for his return and left food for him in the
wilderness. He could sometimes be seen reciting poetry to himself or writing in the sand with a
stick.

Layla is generally depicted as having moved to a place in Northern Arabia with her husband,
where she became ill and eventually died. In some versions, Layla dies of heartbreak from not
being able to see her would-be lover. Majnun was later found dead in the wilderness in 688 AD,
near Laylas grave. He had carved three verses of poetry on a rock near the grave, which are the
last three verses attributed to him.

Layla visits Majnun in the wilderness; Indian watercolour held by the Bodleian Library

Many other minor incidents happened between his madness and his death. Most of his recorded
poetry was composed before his descent into madness.

I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla

And I kiss this wall and that wall

Its not Love of the walls that has enraptured my h

But of the One who dwells within them

It is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet. This type of love is
known as "virgin love" because the lovers never marry or consummate their passion. Other
famous virgin love stories set in Arabia are the stories of Qays and Lubna, Kuthair and
Azza, Marwa and Al Majnoun Al Faransi, Antara and Abla, and Irfan and Zoobi. This literary motif
is common throughout the world, notably in the Muslim literature of South Asia, such
as Urdu ghazals.

History and influence[edit]

Persian adaptation and Persian literature[edit]

Majnun in the wilderness

The story of Layla and Majnun was known in Persian at early as the 9th century. Two well known
Persian poets, Rudaki and Baba Taher, both mention the lovers.[2][3]
Although the story was somewhat popular in Persian literature in the 12th century, it was the
Persian masterpiece of Nizami Ganjavi that popularized it dramatically in Persian literature.
[4]

Nizami collected both secular and mystical sources about Majnun and portrayed a vivid picture

of the famous lovers.[4] Subsequently, many other Persian poets imitated him and wrote their own
versions of the romance.[4]Nizami drew influence from Udhrite love poetry, which is characterized
by erotic abandon and attraction to the beloved, often by means of an unfulfillable longing.
[5]

Other influences include older Persian epics, such as Vmiq u 'Adhr, written in the 11th

century, which covers a similar topic of a virgin and her passionate lover; the latter having to go
through many trials to be with his love.[6]
In his adaptation, the young lovers become acquainted at school and fell desperately in love.
However, they could not see each other due to a family feud, and Layla's family arranged for her
to marry another man.[7] According to Dr. Rudolf Gelpke, "Many later poets have imitated Nizami's
work, even if they could not equal and certainly not surpass it; Persians, Turks, Indians, to name
only the most important ones. The Persian scholar Hekmat has listed no less than forty Persians
and thirteen Turkish versions of Layli and Majnun."[8] According to Vahid Dastgerdi, "If one would
search all existing libraries, one would probably find more than 1000 versions of Layli and
Majnun."
In his statistical survey of famous Persian romances, Hasan ulfaqri enumerates 59 imitations
(naz i ras) of Layla and Majnun as the most popular romance in the Iranian world, followed by 51
versions of osrow o irin, 22 variants of Yusuf o Zuleikha and 16 versions ofVmiq u Ahr.[3]

Azerbaijani adaptation and Azerbaijani literature[edit]

Azerbaijani folk art based on theLayla and Majnun novel by Nizami Ganjavi.

The story of Layla and Majnun passed into Azerbaijani literature. The Azerbaijani
language adaptation of the story, Dstn- Leyl v Mecnn (" ; The Epic of Layla
and Majnun") was written in the 16th century by Fuzl and Hagiri Tabrizi. Fuzl's version was
borrowed by the renowned Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, who used the material to
create what became the Middle East's first opera. It premiered in Baku on 25 January 1908. The
story had previously been brought to the stage in the late 19th century, whenAhmed
Shawqi wrote a poetic play about the tragedy, now considered one of the best in modern Arab
poetry. Majnun lines from the play are sometimes confused with his actual poems.
A scene of the poem is depicted on the reverse of the Azerbaijani 100 and
50 manat commemorative coins minted in 1996 for the 500th anniversary of Fuzl's life and
activities.[9]

Other influences[edit]
The enduring popularity of the legend has influenced Middle Eastern literature,
especially Sufi writers, in whose literature the name Laylarefers to their concept of the Beloved.
The original story is featured in Bah'u'llh's mystical writings, the Seven Valleys. In Arabic
language, Layla name means "night," and is thought to mean "one who works by night." This is
an apparent allusion to the fact that the romance of the star-crossed lovers was hidden and kept
secret. In the Arabic language, the word Majnun means "a crazy person." In addition to this
creative use of language, the tale has also made at least one linguistic contribution, inspiring
a Turkish colloquialism: to "feel like Mecnun" is to feel completely possessed, as might be
expected of a person who is literally madly in love.
This epic poem was translated into English by Isaac D'Israeli in the early 19th century allowing a
wider audience to appreciate it.

Layla has also been mentioned in many works by Aleister Crowley in many of his religious texts,
perhaps most notably, in The Book of Lies.
In India, it is believed that Layla and Majnun found refuge in a village in Rajasthan before they
died. The graves of Layla and Majnun are believed to be located in the Bijnore village
near Anupgarh in the Sriganganagar district. According to rural legend there, Layla and Majnun
escaped to these parts and died there. Hundreds of newlyweds and lovers
from India and Pakistan, despite there being no facilities for an overnight stay, attend the two-day
fair in June.
Another variation on the tale tells of Layla and Majnun meeting in school. Majnun fell in love with
Layla and was captivated by her. The school master would beat Majnun for paying attention to
Layla instead of his school work. However, upon some sort of magic, whenever Majnun was
beaten, Layla would bleed for his wounds. The families learnt of this strange magic and began to
feud, preventing Layla and Majnun from seeing each other. They meet again later in their youth
and Majnun wishes to marry Layla. Layla's brother, Tabrez, would not let her shame the family
name by marrying Majnun. Tabrez and Majnun quarreled and, stricken with madness over Layla,
Majnun murdered Tabrez. Word reached the village and Majnun was arrested. He was
sentenced to be stoned to death by the villagers. Layla could not bear it and agreed to marry
another man if Majnun would be kept safe from harm in exile. Her terms were accepted and
Layla got married, but her heart still longed for Majnun. Hearing this, Layla's husband rode with
his men into the desert to find Majnun. Upon finding him, Layla's husband challenged Majnun to
the death. The instant her husband's sword pierced Majnun's heart, Layla collapsed in her home.
Layla and Majnun were buried next to each other as her husband and their fathers prayed to
their afterlife. Myth has it that Layla and Majnun met again in heaven, where they loved forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1994.232.4