Happy #ValentinesDay. Let me tell you the tale of Layla and Majnun, an old love story from the Middle East that predates Romeo and Juliet and may have inspired some of its themes. A thread for this Valentine's Day

Layla was a beautiful young woman living in a small village. One day as she was out in the bazaar she happened on a handsome young man, Qays. Their eyes met. She smiled and that was that. Love seized Qays’ heart and never let go.

Qays would write poems expression his unfailing love for Layla. His devotion was so fierce, the villagers took to calling him “majnun” meaning the “possessed’ or the “mad.” But Layla loved him back as fiercely.

When he asked Layla’s father for her hand in marriage, he was rebuffed for it would be a scandal for her to marry a poor and touched man.

Instead, Layla was married off to a wealthy merchant from another city. She was sent away to the great sorrow of the young lovers.

Majnun could not bear the pain of losing Layla. Love had stung him and there was no going back. He spent his days wandering the deserts, forlorn and yearning for Layla, his beloved.

Mystics would travel far and wide to visit the wandering mad man. For it was reputed he knew the mysteries of God Himself. When asked about his love of Layla, Majnun replied, Layla is All. I am but the veil, scratch me and find Layla underneath.

Majnun spent his days composing poems in the desert while his family left scraps of food for him on the edge of the city.

Layla for her part was heartbroken. She loved Majnun, but she was married. She knew she would never see the one she loved again. She died of a broken heart.

News reached Majnun. The last thread of his sanity snapped. He rushed to her grave. Tears rolling, he recited;
‘I pass by these walls the walls of Layla
& kiss this wall & that wall.
It’s not love of the houses that has taken my heart
but of the One who dwells in those houses.

He cried until he withered away. Dust upon Layla’s grave. But they say if you’re ever in the desert and you listen carefully to the wind you can hear it whisper, “Layla…Layla…” The End. Happy Valentine's Day!