al-ghazal al-ʿudhrī

Introduction

To the best of our knowledge, early Arabic sources do not attest a widespread or well-established use of the term al-ghazal al-ʿudhrī as a distinct critical designation.¹* This article is largely an abridged and substantially revised version of selected sections from my book The Body in Arabic Love Poetry (2021). The available evidence suggests that the association of the Banū ʿUdhra with an intense, idealized, and often tragic form of love predates the crystallization of the term itself. Al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 868) famously associates the Banū ʿUdhra with a form of love that was believed to lead to death. Yet premodern adab literature is generally concerned with narratives of lovers (ʿushshāq), the love-stricken (mutayyamūn), and the so-called “martyrs of love,” rather than treatingʿudhrī ghazal as a stable literary designation. The notion of ʿudhrī ghazal as a clearly defined literary category therefore appears to be the result of a later process of critical formulation and categorization.

According to a widely accepted view in modern scholarship, the Umayyad period witnessed the emergence of al-ghazal as a more distinct and autonomous poetic form. Although love poetry had long been present within the qaṣīda tradition,²Alharthi, Jokha, “The Evolution of the Love Story in Classical Arabic Literature,” 2. particularly in the amatory prelude (nasīb), ghazal came increasingly to be cultivated as a distinct, though not entirely independent, genre. Typically, it is a monothematic poem devoted to expressing love and longing for the beloved. In its ʿudhrī form in particular, love is not merely erotic in a narrow sense but often combines emotional and spiritual dimensions, encompassing elements of both eros and agape. Before that time, the nasīb had formed only the opening section of a long poem. The remainder of the poem praised a patron or tribe, or sometimes the poet himself, and included descriptions of the poet’s journey, his camel or horse, among other things.

The literary figure later known as the ʿudhrī poet is typically portrayed as devoted to a single beloved, to whom he dedicates much of his life and poetry, while only occasionally composing verses in other genres such as praise (madḥ) or satire (hijāʾ). While ghazal denotes poetry of love, the ʿudhrī tradition extends beyond verse to include the narratives of ʿudhrī lovers—narratives that are inseparable from their poetic expression.

In the ʿudhrī ghazal, the beloved is depicted as an ideal woman and her poet lover as a martyr of love. The recurring theme of suffering and torment in love is strongly expressed in the ʿudhrī tradition. Another characteristic of ʿudhrī ghazal is its reliance on a set of recurring motifs and images, such as the figure of the blamer (ʿādhil), the watchful guardian (raqīb), scenes of separation and desert wandering, and images of weeping, illness, and death.

Al-ghazal al-ʿudhrī is named after the ʿUdhra^{3“A nomadic Arabian tribe of the Quda‘a federation. Its pedigree is: ʿUdhra b. Saʿd Hudhaym b. Zayd b. Layth. The ʿUdhra were the central group among the descendants of Saʿd Hudhaym, and they incorporated several brother-clans such as the Ḥārith b. Saʿd Hudhaym and Salman b. Saʿd Hudhaym. The ʿUdhra lived in the area of Ashraf/Mashārif al-Shām, which in this context refers to the northern Hejaz. They were particularly linked with Wadi al-Qura.” Lecker, People, Tribes, and Society in Arabia around the Time of Muhammad, 91.} tribe, which produced many of the tradition’s leading poets. In the literary tradition, members of this tribe came to be associated with an idealized form of passionate love; they were frequently portrayed as tender-hearted lovers whose devotion could lead to profound suffering and, in some cases, death.^{4See the references on the subject in Dawūd al-Anṭākī, Tazyīn al-aswāq fi akhbār al-ʿushshāq (ed. Dār al-Baḥār), 19, and Jaʿfar b. Aḥmad al-Sarrāj: Masāriʿ al-ʿushshāq (ed. Dār Ṣādir), 1: 37.} For example, Jamīl b. ʿAbdallāh b. Maʿmar, better known as Jamīl Buthayna (d.82/701), is generally regarded as the foremost representative of the genre and belonged to the ʿUdhra tribe. Nevertheless, there were ʿudhrī poets from other tribes, such as Majnūn Laylā (= Qays ibn al-Mulawwaḥ, d.c.68/688), who belonged to the Banū ʿĀmir. In addition to Majnūn Laylā and Jamīl Buthayna, the most importantʿudhrī love poets are ʿUrwa b. Ḥizām (d.30/650), Qays b. Dharīḥ (d.68/688), and Kuthayyir ʿAzza (d.105/723). Drawing on the Kitāb al-Aghānī as a principal source for ʿudhrī poetry, I examine its narrative structure and main topics, before tracing the history of the ʿudhrī motif through to modern literature.

Corpus

The main source for any study of the ʿudhrī tradition is the Kitāb al-Aghānī (Book of Songs) by Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (d. 356/967)⁵Hilary Kilpatrick, following Ibn al-Nadīm, has plausibly argued that he died some years later (“the early 360s”, Making the Great Book of Songs, 20)., Aghānī’s 24 volumes, comprising almost ten thousand pages, include poems and songs from pre-Islamic times to the fourth/tenth century CE, biographies of poets and musicians, and detailed descriptions of literary and musical circles. Documenting a song with the name of the poet and composer, along with the modes of rhythm and melody employed, was not enough for al-Iṣfahānī. In many cases, he gave painstaking descriptions of the context in which a song was composed and performed, believing that the context was extremely important to properly understand the text.⁶Sawa, “The Status and Roles of Secular Musicians in the Kitab al-Aghani (Book of Songs) of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani,” 70. He also gave copious details of the physical, verbal, and social behavior of both the musicians and the audience, as well as how songs were learned, composed, and modified, their uses and functions, and the practice and nature of textual and musical improvisation.⁷Sawa, “The Status and Roles of Secular Musicians in the Kitab al-Aghani (Book of Songs) of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani,” 70.

Questions concerning the authenticity of the ʿudhrī tradition, including its poetry and associated narratives, have long been debated in scholarship. Al-Aghānī marks the beginning of scholarly skepticism. From that point onward, scholars cast doubt not only on the poetry ascribed to Majnūn Laylā but also on his very existence.In the edition used here, the material on Majnūn Laylā occupies around 95 pages of al-Aghānī; there, al-Iṣfahānī discusses the contradictory anecdotes that either confirm al-Majnūn’s existence and the authenticity of his poetry or indicate that he is an imaginary persona. According to al-Aghānī, some reciters (ruwāt) claimed that, when they asked members of al-Majnūn’s tribe, the Banū ʿĀmir, about him, they denied that he had ever existed, some of them saying: “Absolutely not, Banū ‘Āmir have coarser hearts [than al-Majnūn]!”⁸al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī (ed. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth) 2: 330. Al-Iṣfahānī also quotes al-Jāḥiẓ saying: “People claim that every anonymous poem about Laylā should be attributed to al-Majnūn.”⁹al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī (ed. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth), 2: 333. Many others, however, confirmed that they had met al-Majnūn and heard him recite the poems. ¹⁰al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī (ed. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth), 2: 333. The debate about the authenticity of ʿudhrī poetry in general, and al-Majnūn’s very existence and the authorship of his poetry in particular, continues among modern scholars. For example, Taha Husayn in Ḥadīth al-arbiʿāʾ casts doubts on al-Majnūn’s poetry and existence and ultimately denies both.¹¹ Husayn, Ḥadīth al-arbiʿa, 190. Taha Husayn’s skepticism regarding the historical existence of Majnūn should be understood within the specific intellectual and historical context of the early twentieth century. As is well known, Ḥusayn was inclined to adopt a broadly skeptical approach toward the authenticity of pre-islamic Arabic poetry and its associated traditions. On the other hand, the Russian scholar Kratchkovsky has argued for the real historical existence of al-Majnūn by relying on a different historical method.¹²Al-Batal, al-Ghazal al-ʿudhrī, 2.

Be that as it may, one might rightly ask whether the authors of the akhbār were actually concerned with historical accuracy or plausibility in relation to the real world in which they found themselves, as we expect today from biographical accounts, or rather with creating sophisticated and idealized worlds centered on lovers that inspire wonder and celebrate love.¹³Al-Khabou, Akhbār al-ʿushshāq wa-ʿawālimuhum, 66. For, indeed, these accounts do not present authentic, factual realities but rather possible worlds shaped by fiction.¹⁴Al-Khabou, Akhbār al-ʿushshāq wa-ʿawālimuhum, 42. Thus, the effort to prove factual reliability or historical truth in texts that lean toward the imaginary is ultimately futile. “The “truth” at play in these narrative worlds,” says Muhammad al-Khabou, “is not one measured by correspondence with prior reality, but one derived from the internal logic of the narrative itself.”¹⁵Al-Khabou, Akhbār al-ʿushshāq wa-ʿawālimuhum, 43.

Historical Semantics and Contextual Analysis

The Narrative Structure of the ʿudhrī Love Story

The typical components of theʿudhrī poets’ sentimental tales are¹⁶It is in no way intended that these literary works should be reduced to simple formulae; rather, I have tried to highlight some of their key unifying components.: the lover meets his beloved either during their childhood when they tended their families’ flocks of sheep in the desert, or they meet as adults in a sudden encounter. They fall deeply in love, a love that lasts until death, and the lover consequently composes poetry describing his fatal love for his beloved. However, his beloved’s parents reject his marriage proposal because of the disgrace his verses have brought upon both their daughter and themselves—even though they belong to the same tribe and sometimes are members of the same family. In some cases, the demand for an exorbitant dowry prevents the marriage. The lover then goes to seek wealth while the parents force their daughter to marry another man, who generally has fewer good qualities than her lover. Heartbroken by her marriage, the lover pursues his beloved and recites beautiful poetry that circulates far and wide, describing her beauty and his suffering.¹⁷Some scholars have interpreted the suffering of ʿudhrī lovers as reflecting a fluctuating masculine identity and a form of love that transcends its idealized image, revealing psychological tension and profound inner conflict. Laith Maher Al-Nais and Abdul Khaliq Issa, “Bināʾ al-huwiyya al-jamʿiyya ʿinda shuʿarāʾ al-ghazal al-ʿudhrī.” He continues to visit her after her marriage, and they remain faithful to one another in their heart until death. The poet’s insistence on seeing his beloved and composing poetry about her leads her parents to appeal to the ruler, who declares it permissible to kill him. The ruler then sends him into exile, and the poet wanders through the desert. In some accounts, his passion drives him mad, but whenever he remembers his beloved, his poetic inspiration returns. In the end, the lovers both die, one soon after the other. In some accounts, they are buried next to each other.

These episodes are motifs that are found in a number of ʿudhrī romances and constitute the essential framework of the love story. This structure is shaped by symbolism, and the repetition of this pattern suggests that most of these stories derive from a single narrative model. I have argued elsewhere that this literary tradition followed a model derived from one of the oldest love stories, attributed to the pre-Islamic poet al-Muraqqish al-Akbar.¹⁸Alharthi, “The Evolution of the Love Story in Classical Arabic Literature,” 2–4. The legendary tropes in these stories can be observed through certain common features, namely, as al-Batal notes, the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the composers of these romances and the repeated motifs within every single story which make all the ʿudhrī stories concentrate on one theme, regardless of minor differences in details.¹⁹Al-Batal, al-Ghazal al-ʿudhrī, 181.

Love in theʿudhrī Tradition

The main characteristic of the plot is the poet’s total devotion to love; this sentiment infuses all ʿudhrī stories and poetry. The lovers are depicted purely as ideals of love, so that the reader knows nothing of their lives beyond this passion. The sentiments of love and the anguish it entails are expressed in ʿudhrī poetry in myriad ways. The lovers “did not want to get rid of their pain, because pain is the only genuine criterion of true love.”²⁰Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 258. The beloved becomes the ideal of a timeless woman and seems to be almost immortal. The desert, spacious and still, provides an ideal setting in which ʿudhrī love stories unfold. Time seems to stop for the lovers as their passion tends to be detached and unaffected by temporality. Unlike the nasīb, which primarily focuses on a lost or remembered past love, ʿudhrī ghazal depicts an enduring love experienced in the present and extending into the future. “Whereas the poet of the Jāhiliyya abandons a futile love-affair of the past, the ʿudhrī poet perseveres in the face of hopelessness and despair. His love is preordained by fate and transcends death.”²¹Jacobi, EI2, X, “ʿUdhrī,” 775. Al-Majnūn, upon the loss of his beloved, felt (meter: al-ṭawīl):

كأنّ فجاجَ الأرضِ حلقةً خاتمٍ علي فما تزدادُ طولا ولا عرضا

As if the mountain-roads were the circle of ring
          Around me, never increasing in length or breadth²²Qays b. al-Mulawwaḥ (ed. Darwish), Diwān Majnūn Laylā, 134, trans. by Ruqayya Yasmine Khan in, Sexuality and Secrecy in the Medieval Arabic Romance of Majnūn Laylā, 188

As these tales demonstrate, any love story requires secondary characters who serve as foils to the main characters, creating obstacles to the lovers’ union. These obstacles enliven the story and help transform their love into an eternal ideal.²³See Miquel’s discussion of similar ideas in his Majnun Layla wa Tristan, 81–89. In ʿudhrī stories, the central theme is that the obstacles cannot be overcome, nor can the lovers abandon their love. Renate Jacobi suggests that “the conflict is obviously situated between generations: the parents represent the tribal community, against which the implicit polemics of the ʿudhrī model are directed.”²⁴Jacobi, Die Udhra. It is noteworthy that in ʿudhrī stories the lovers are rejected by society in one way or another and are thus are expelled into the desert, which symbolizes their exclusion. Therefore, the figure of the blamer (ʿādhil) is a familiar figure in the ʿudhrī ghazal. The function of the blamer is to persuade the lover-poet to be more moderate or—in other words—“to prevent the protagonist from making the heroic gesture.”²⁵ Hamori, On the Art of Medieval Arabic Literature, 40. But for these poets, love was their chief object, a path that gave their lives purpose. Al-Majnūn says: “they said that I could forget her if I wanted to; I answered them that I did not really want to.”²⁶ Cited and translated by Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 276.

The ʿudhrī poet wants no woman other than his beloved; just as the lover’s passion surpasses that of all other lovers, so too his beloved surpasses all other women. He would be pleased with very little from her. For example, consider Jamīl’s verses (meter: al-ṭawīl):

وإني لأرضَى من بثينة بالذي لو أبصرهُ الواشي لقرَّتْ بلابلُه بلا، وبألا أستطيع، وبالمنى، وبالوعدِ حتى يسأم الوعدَ آملُه وبالنظرةِ العجلى وبالحولِ تنقضي أواخرُه لا نلتقي وأوائلُه

I am pleased with very little things accorded to me by Buthaynah
          They are so insignificant
          that if they were known by the man (who spies us)
          he would not be annoyed with my love
I am pleased even when she says: “no” or “I cannot”
          And when she makes me live on promises
          promises hoped for, but always disappointing
I am pleased with a quick glance at her,
          and even with spending a whole year without our meeting—
          neither at the beginning nor at the end²⁷Jamīl b. Ma‘mar, Diwān Jamīl Buthaynah (ed. Atwi), 83, trans. Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 180, and see also Kuthayyir ʿAzza, Diwān Kuthayyir ʿAzza, sharḥ Majid Tarad, 55.

… and she is both the cause of and the only cure for the poet’s misery. Al-Majnūn, for instance, says: “I cured my suffering from missing Layla by remembering her, just as a drunkard who has no other cure for his pain, but drink.”²⁸ Majnūn, Diwān, p. 120, trans. Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 281. However, theʿudhrī love is a reciprocated love. I would argue that the portrayal of the beloved as an aloof woman (bakhīla) is a classical Arabic poetry convention rather than the feature of individual ʿudhrī poets. For instance, Jamīl shows the two lovers involved in passion (meter: al-ṭawīl):

كلانا بكَى أو كاد يبكي صَبابةً لصاحبهِ واستعجلتْ عَبرةً قبلي

We were both on the point of crying for each other,
          And her tears were quicker than mine²⁹ Jamīl, Diwān (ed. Atwi), 73, trans. Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 289. Jamīl and other poets’ poems are generally monothematic, but they can be quite long, such as the very long poems rhyming in īyā attributed to al-Majnūn, the long poems rhyming in -ānī attributed to ʿUrwa ibn Ḥizām, or a poem by Qays ibn Dharīḥ (ṭawīl, -ā.iʿū) of more than fifty verses. The dominance of the ṭawīl meter is striking, as is the general absence of the shorter meters (khafīf, ramal, rajaz are very rare).

In the following, I will focus on two central characteristics of the type of love that ʿudhrī poets delineate. The first concerns the relationship between love and death; the second, the rejection of the lovers’ marriage.

First, according to ʿudhrī poetry, all the malady’s symptoms are obvious in the lover: paleness, thinness, fainting, insanity, and death. As for paleness and wasting away, Qays bin Dharīḥ says (meter: al-ṭawīl):

وللحُبّ آياتٌ تبيّن بالفتى شحوبٌ وتعرى من يديهِ الأشاجعُ

Love has signs that are patent in a youth
          He becomes pale and his knuckles stick out from his hands³⁰Qays b. Dharīḥ, Diwān (ed. Hatoum), 66; Kuthayyir, Diwān (ed. Tarrad), 223, also says: “That Dumri’s daughter is asking me: why are you pale?” (author’s translation).

His usage of the word “signs” is noteworthy in this context because it suggests that the idea of proving love through physical symptoms was already circulating in Arabic culture in Qays’s time.³¹On bodily signs for love in the classical Arabic love theory, see Alharthi, The Body in Arabic Love Poetry, 201.

The intimate relationship between love and death is a crucial element of theʿudhrī experience. Most of the lovers die because of their love, therefore their poetry is full of references to death—.“Such love is almost of necessity tragic. And its tragedy is a symbol of the incompatibility of the absolute and the concrete, of the ideal and the (sic) real life,”³²Bürgel, “Love, Lust, and Longing,” 92. as Johann Bürgel has put it. Death is preferable to a life of separation. Death is seen as a desirable end that offers relief for the ardent lover. This motif recurs throughout ʿudhrī ghazals. Jamīl wishes (meter: al-kāmil):

يا ليتني ألقى المنيّةَ بغتةً إن كان يوم لقائكم لم يُقدرِ

O if only I could meet my death suddenly,
          if it is not ordained that we meet³³Jamīl b. Maʿmar (ed. Atwi), Diwān, 39 (author’s translation).

On the other hand, this longing for death has another element besides offering a peaceful end to suffering. It is also a means of seeking closeness to the beloved when this is not possible in life. For example, ʿUrwa looks forward to being with ʿAfrāʾ, even though it is not possible while he is alive (meter: al-ṭawīl):

وإني لأهوى الحشر إن قيل أنني وعفراء يوم الحشر ملتقيان

I love the day of Judgment since I have been told
          That I shall meet her there³⁴ʿUrwa, Diwān (ed. al-Qawwal), 41, trans. Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 300.

The explanation here is simply that love for ʿudhrī poets is immortal. Love has no end; it is the ultimate truth of their being. Here, Qays bin Dharīḥ demonstrates the immortality of his love (meter: al-ṭawīl):

ولكنه باقٍ على كلّ حادثٍ وزائرنا في ظلمةِ القبر واللحدِ

Our love will survive every event,
          And will visit us in the darkness of the grave³⁵Qays b. Dharīḥ, Diwān (ed. Hatoum), 123, trans. Kinany, The Development of Ghazal in Arabic Literature, 262.

Second, ʿudhrī narratives resist the fulfillment of love through marriage and create obstacles to prevent the lovers from marrying. Even in cases where a marriage does take place, as in the story of Qays and Lubnā, the trajectories of the narratives will lead to the inevitable separation of the lovers. ʿUdhrī poetry and narratives present the figure of the husband in a new light, marking one of the transformations in the Arabic literary tradition of the era.³⁶Alharthi, “The Theme of Marriage in ʿUdhri Tradition,” 42. Majnūn Laylā says (meter: al-ṭawīl):

فإن كان فيكم بعلُ ليلى فإنّني وذي العرشِ قد قبّلتُ فاها ثمانيا

If Laylā’s husband is present among you, then
          by the Lord of the Throne, I swear that I have kissed her lips eight times.³⁷Qays b. al-Mulawwaḥ (ed. Darwish), Diwān, 237 (author’s translation).

Whereas Islamic discourse emphasizes procreation as a natural consequence of sexual pleasure, the ʿudhrī poetic tradition refrains from any reference to reproduction. Although the beloved is at times described in physical terms,³⁸See, for instance, Qays ibn Dharīḥ on Lubnā: “Her buttocks quiver when she walks; her back | is like a willow branch, her waist is slim”; “You most perfect of people, from your top to toe, | the prettiest of people, clothed or naked! || Sweet bedfollow when shortly after waking up | one draws a plump one to oneself, still sleeping or awake!” Geert Jan van Gelder, ed. and trans., Classical Arabic Literature, 142, 147. she is rarely associated with potential motherhood.

The Rise of the ʿudhrī ghazal and Its Development

Several scholars emphasize the poor and miserable living conditions in the desert, arguing that these conditions helped shape literary ideals of emotional restraint, separation, and unattainable love. A feeling of helplessness, together with the strict Bedouin code of conduct, contributed to the emergence of the ʿudhrī ghazal. Al-Qitt, for instance, argues that religious chastity cannot be regarded as the only factor explaining the emergence of the ʿudhrī phenomenon. He also takes social and political factors into consideration.³⁹Al-Qitt, Fī al-shiʿr al-Islāmī, 109. Both Yusuf al-Yusuf and Ali al-Batal use a stratified social explanation to account for ʿudhrī poetry. Al-Yusuf’s analysis combines social and psychological readings of the ʿudhrī phenomenon. On the other hand, al-Batal views the ʿudhrī stories as legends and interprets them symbolically. Al-Yusuf’s interpretation is based on the political subjugation practiced by the Umayyads and the social oppression that resulted from the increasing dominance of particular social values. This experience of intense oppression leads to a loss of identity, which is compensated for by writing poetry.⁴⁰Al-Yusuf, al-Ghazal al-ʿudhrī, 66. Al-Batal expresses a similar idea, arguing that the ʿudhrī phenomenon, which circulated in the Hijaz desert, reflects the experiences of desert dwellers during the period when the poems were written. It also expresses the Bedouins’ views on the political injustice perpetrated by their leaders. Since freedom of expression was restricted, they expressed this injustice allegorically.⁴¹Al-Batal, al-Ghazal al-ʿudhrī, 181.

To explain the phenomenon of love poetry, Salma Jayyusi suggests that the poets in the Hijaz had more leisure time than those in the new provinces and could more happily turn their attention to that genre. In addition, the loss of the Hijaz’s former status as the center of Arabia must have provoked a response that found expression in amatory romanticism. Also, the long-urbanized society of the Hijaz spread its way of life to all regions. Finally, Jayyusi suggests the possibility of ʿudhrī poetry emerging as a poetic vogue which simply caught on, arguing that it possesses an element of excellence which transcends environmental and historical conditions.⁴²Jayyusi, Umayyad Poetry, 425.

After the flowering of the ʿudhrī ghazal in the Umayyad period and the diffusion of its spirit among the fuqahāʾ in Medina and Mecca, it cannot be traced again as a genre until the Abbasid age, whenʿudhrī love became the exalted ideal of courtly society, although the prevailing moral outlook of the latter context clearly differed from that of the earlier milieu. These stories were collected and retold about one and a half centuries after the death of theʿudhrī poets. The stories and poems of ʿudhrī lovers were circulated from the end of the second/seventh century onwards, appearing in collections by numerous authors. The earliest extant version of the genre is found in an anthology by Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889), who collected the works of major Arab poets in his book al-Shiʿr wa al-shuʿarāʾ. Asʿad Khairallah notes that “Ibn Qutaybah presents us with the basic elements of [Majnun’s] legend. These elements were later expanded and retold in different variations, but the figure of Majnun was unmistakably drawn by Ibn Qutaybah.”⁴³Khairallah, Love, Madness, and Poetry, 50. Shortly after Ibn Qutaybah, Ibn Dāʾūd (d. 297/910) included some fragments ascribed to ʿudhrī poets in his kitab al-Zahra. Later, in his famous al-Aghānī (The Book of Songs), al-Iṣfahānī (d. 356/976) presented a collection of numerous anecdotes and poetic fragments, which were either ascribed to ʿudhrī poets like Jamīl and al-Majnūn, or referred to them. Al-Nuwayrī (d. 733/1333), who relates various ʿudhrī love stories in his encyclopedia Nihāyat al-arab, states that the ʿudhrī martyrs of love were too many to count.⁴⁴ al-Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al-arab fi funūn al-adab (ed. al-Muʾassasa al-Miṣriyya), 2: 184. In any case, ʿudhrī love stories—in more or less detail—appear in many classical literary works such as Maṣāriʿ al-‘ushshāq by Abu Jaʿfar al-Sarrāj (d. 500/1106), Rawḍat al-muḥibbīn by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 769/1349) and Tazyīn al-aswaq by Dāʾūd al-Anṭākī (d. 1008/1599), Dhamm al-hawā by Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201), and al-Wāḍiḥ al-Mubīn fī dhikr man ustushhida min al-muḥibbīn by Mughulṭāy (d. 762/1361), where ʿudhrī poets become the heroes of romantic stories. During the early Abbasid period, ʿudhrī romances were very popular, with numerous verses set to music, while stories featuring heroic poets were popular in the late ninth century.⁴⁵Alharthi, “The Ghazal Fragment.” Al-Majnūn, in particular, attracted the attention of writers on the theory of love, and his verses were eventually included in anthologies of poems by lover-poets and martyrs of love. Many ʿudhrī motifs were adopted by urban poets such as Abū Nuwās and al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Aḥnaf, among many others, who composed ghazal either wholly in ʿudhrī style or in a mixed style, whether chaste (as in the poems of the “refined” ẓurafāʾ) or less chaste. The ʿudhrī tradition was also adopted by the Sufis, who composed poems in the ʿudhrī manner. The figure of al-Majnūn also attracted mystics because al-Majnūn’s rapture was analogous to their own ecstatic states.⁴⁶Dols, Majnun, 321–322. Hence, in the words of Jayyusi, “[i]t is appropriate to think that the appearance of such stories as al-Majnūn’s, though based on an existing tradition, started a fashion for a genre of love literature that proved to be enormously popular.”⁴⁷Jayyusi, Umayyad Poetry, 421.

Conclusion

In modern Arabic literature, al-Majnūn’s character has been a source of inspiration for many poets and authors including Ahmad Shawqi in his poetic play Majnun Layla, which was first published in 1933. Except for a few scenes, Shawqi’s play closely follows the original Aghānī version. In 1996, the Arab poet Qasim Haddad published a collection of poems entitled Akhbār Majnūn Laylā, where he reinterprets the old legend. It is remarkable that in his interpretation, Haddad explicitly describes the lovers as having a physical relationship.

In Persian literature, al-Majnūn’s love for Laylā is treated as a kind of adoration similar to the one reserved for God, a legend that was adopted by Sufis. The first adaptation of the Arabic fragments of the legend into Persian can be found in Niẓāmī Ganjavī’s Laylī and Majnūn (composed 584/1188–9). Dols notes that Niẓāmī’s adaptation is consistent with the earlier accounts while also offering a fuller and more detailed narrative. Indeed, Niẓāmī’s style is characterized by its rich imagery.⁴⁸Dols, Majnun, 331. However, the symbolic potential in the Arabic version of Majnūn’s story reaches its zenith with the Persian Sufi poet Jāmī (d. 898/1492). Jāmī’s Laylī and Majnūn is a representation of the Sufi quest with a remarkably creative use of conventions.⁴⁹ See Khairallah’s discussion of Jāmī’s work in Love, Madness, and Poetry, 97–133. Inspired by Niẓāmī, the Majnūn legend has remained very popular with Turkish poets until modern times. The most famous adaptation of the story was by Fuzuli in 942/1535–6.⁵⁰ Dols, Majnun, 324. Farther east, the romance was embraced in Urdu literature.⁵¹Abdul Majeed examines the historical evolution of the ghazal, tracing its journey from ancient Arabic and Persian origins to its modern adaptation in Urdu literature. He illustrates how classical metaphors were repurposed to address existential despair, societal injustice, and modern alienation. Abdul Majeed, “From Mystical Yearning to Political Consciousness.” In the West, Goethe repeatedly invoked the figures of al-Majnūn and Laylā in his West–östlicher Divan. In the poem “Einladung,” he writes: “Were Laylā and Majnūn to rise again, they would learn from me the path of love.”⁵²Goethe, West–östlicher Divan, 126 (Suleika Nameh/Buch Suleika; author’s translation). The Banū ʿUdhra, who die of love, appeared in European literature with Stendhal’s treatise De l’amour (1822), and also inspired Romantics such as Heine with his poem Der Asra that was set to music by Carl Loewe.⁵³ Jacobi, “ʿUdhrī,” 775.

The ʿudhrī tradition constitutes a rich and multilayered heritage, both historically and poetically. Despite the widespread popularity of what came to be known as explicit love poetry in Arabic literature—where love is primarily conceived as a sensual adventure—ʿudhrī love poetry remained a source of inspiration for generations of poets, transmitters, and theorists of love over the centuries. The ʿudhrī phenomenon thus became deeply embedded in the literary traditions shaped and consolidated by classical Arabic treatises on love.