Bedouin and Abbasid Cultural Identities " The Arabic Story of Majnun Layla "

From the burning sands of unrequited Bedouin love to the sophisticated courts and intellectual circles of Abbasid Baghdad, Dr. Ruqayyah Yasmine Khan delivers a brilliant deconstruction of one of Arabic literature's most enduring legends: "Majnun Layla." Moving beyond the romantic surface, this book unpacks the narrative's structural depths, revealing how the desert's archetypal tale was reshaped to reflect the ideological tension between pristine nomadic identity and the complex cosmopolitanism of the Abbasid Era. Across 394 meticulously analyzed pages, literary traditions merge with social and theological critique, offering readers a mesmerizing lens into how every verse dedicated to Layla was, at its core, a powerful negotiation of Arabic cultural identity.

Because it deconstructs one of history's most celebrated love stories through an unprecedented analytical lens, revealing how folklore, poetry, and politics intertwine to define shifting cultural identities.

For lovers of classical Arabic literature, scholars of Islamic history and cultural studies, and anyone fascinated by the evolution of Arabic poetry, storytelling, and heritage.