The Loves of Laili and Majnun

Layla and Majnun (Arabic: مجنون ليلى majnūn laylā "Layla's Mad Lover"; Hindustani: मजनूँ लैला, ‏,مجنوں لیلی majnun layla;‎ Persian: لیلی و مجنون, romanized: laylâ o majnun) is an ancient Arab love story about the 7th-century poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his lover Layla al-Amiriyah. The story originates from Najd in present-day Saudi Arabia, with Qays and Layla traditionally associated with Al-Aflaj Governorate and the city of Layla, which is named after Layla al-Amiriyah. Their tragic love story became one of the most famous romances in Arabic literature and inspired adaptations throughout the Islamic world.

"The Layla-Majnun theme passed from Arabic to Persian, Turkish, and Indic languages", through the narrative poem composed in 1188 CE by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, as the third part of his Khamsa. It is a popular poem praising their love story.

Qays and Layla fell in love with each other when they were young, but when they grew up, Layla's father did not allow them to be together. Qays became obsessed with her. His tribe, Banu Amir, and the community gave him the epithet of Majnūn (مجنون "crazy", lit. "possessed by Jinn"). Long before Nizami, the legend circulated in anecdotal forms in Iranian akhbar. The early anecdotes and oral reports about Majnun are documented in Kitab al-Aghani and Ibn Qutaybah's Al-Shi'r wa-l-Shu'ara'. The anecdotes are mostly very short, only loosely connected, and show little or no plot development. Nizami collected both secular and mystical sources about Majnun and portrayed a vivid picture of the famous lovers. Subsequently, many other Persian poets imitated him and wrote their own versions of the romance. Nizami drew influence from Udhrite (Udhri) love poetry, which is characterized by erotic abandon and attraction to the beloved, often by means of an unfulfillable longing.

Qays ibn al-Mullawah (Majnun) fell in love with Layla al-Aamiriya. He soon began composing poems about his love for her, mentioning her name often. His obsessive effort to woo the girl caused some locals to call him "Majnun", or mentally unhinged. 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 forcibly married to another noble and rich merchant belonging to the Thaqif tribe in Ta'if. He was described as a handsome man with reddish complexion whose name was Ward Althaqafi. The Arabs called him Ward, meaning "rose" in Arabic.