David might want to listen to the "Manjun Symphony" by Alan Hovannes just
to get another musical take on this same story.
Pat
On Thu, 10 May 2001 14:06:02 -0400 (EDT) Karen Mercedes
<dalila@R...> writes:
<dalila@R...> writes:
> On Thu, 10 May 2001, David Grogan wrote:
>
> > A question to anyone who might know this...
> >
> > In the song, "Les Roses d'Ispahan" (Faure, Op. 39, No. 4), a
> reference is
> > made to "Leilah." Who is this character, and what gender is
> (s)he? Thanks
> > for any light you can shed on this for me!
>
> The Leilah referred to is NOT Eric Clapton's.
>
> One of the lovely romantic love stories of Islamic tradition is that
> of
> Leila and Majnun. It is the Islamic corollary of the Krishna/Radha
> tale
> (and more indirectly the Christ-the-Bridegroom/Church relationship
> when
> expressed in more romantic terms by certain Christian mystics). The
> story
> also bears some striking similarities to the Dante-Beatrice story in
> its
> material aspects, though not in the lesson it teaches.
>
> According to Meher Baba (from whom I first learned of this love
> story):
>
> "Majnun and Layla (also Majnu; Laila, Leila): The Islamic tale of
> Majnuns
> one-pointed love for Layla has its origins in Arabia and is thought
> to be
> based on a true story....The story of Majnun and Leila is a famous
> Persian
> tale of the height of human love. Majnun (meaning "possessed by a
> jinn" or
> "love stricken", actual name Qais) and Leila (meaning "sweetheart",
> actual
> name Laila bint Sad) loved each other profoundly. They were from
> different tribes and were never united in love, and because of that
> pain
> of separation Majnun nearly went mad with grief and his love saw
> Leila in
> everything. His love intensified to such heights that he came into
> contact
> with a Qutub [a Sufi perfect master] who bestowed God-realization on
> him."
>
> The tale is, in its way, a parable of the intense, all-consuming,
> obsessive (in a good sense) love of the mystic for God - Majnun
> being the
> metaphor for the mystic, and his profound desire to unite with Leila
> the
> metaphor for the mystic's attempt to unite with God.
>
> Karen Mercedes
> =====
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