Alif Laila in Arabic Literature: A Study

عربی ادب میں الف لیلہ :ایک مطالعہ

Abstract

Alif Laila is as popular in the Arabic language as Homer's epics in world classical literature. In this story, the story of a lustful king and an intelligent storyteller is presented. In this story, Greek, A mixture of Egyptian and Babylonian stories is seen. A French orientalist named Antoine Gland found the source of this story and translated it into French, which made this story universally accepted.It was first translated into English by Edward W. Lane, but the authentic translation is believed to be by Richard Burton. It was translated into Urdu by various translators as "Alif Laila Al-Ma'roof Ba Hazar Dastan". Some of the characters in this story are fictional, some history. In view of this story, it has also been filmed. The first film was "The Thief of Bagdad".Films were released under the name of "Hatam Tai" in India, "Hazar Dastan" in Pakistan. According to some researchers, this story is derived to some extent from the literary heritage of Hindi and then Iran, rather than Arabic.

Keywords : Alif Laila, Arabic Literature, World Classics, Orientalists, Characteristics.