The Story of Layla and Majnun

Niẓāmī Ganjavī

Omega Publications, 1997 - Fiction - 177 pages

Classic Persian legend, a favorite of the Sufis, as told by twelfth-century poet Nizami.

An English translation of Nizami's twelfth-century poetic masterpiece, in which he reshapes the legends of Majnun, the quintessential romantic fool, into a tale of the ideal lover, an allegory of the soul's search for God. Includes a final chapter translated especially for this edition by Omid Safi and Pir Zia Inayat Khan.

Contents

• How the Story Began: 1
• Qays and Layla meet: 4
• The Lovers are separated: 6

About the author

Dr. Rudolf Gelpke (1928-1972) was a Swiss born Islamic scholar. He studied at the University of Basel where he received his doctorate in Islamic Studies in 1957. Later Gelpke would move to Iran, where he taught at the University of Tehran and then later at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Moreover, he served as an associate professor at UCLA for a year between September 1962 and May 1963. In the eight years he lived in Tehran, he also worked as a freelance writer, who not only translated many famous historical works but also published many of his own works.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Story of Layla and Majnun
• Author: Niẓāmī Ganjavī
• Editor: Rudolf Gelpke
• Translated by: Rudolf Gelpke
• Edition: 2, illustrated
• Publisher: Omega Publications, 1997
• ISBN: 0930872525, 9780930872526
• Length: 177 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Fiction / General; Poetry / General; Religion / Inspirational; Religion / Islam / General; Religion / Islam / Sufi; Religion / Spirituality; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology