Stories of Arabian Nights

There was a beautiful mountain with a river running at the foothill, upon which a Prophet was doing penance. As the Prophet was praying, he saw a horseman stop near the stream, after keeping a bag on the ground. But when he left, he forgot to take the bag which contained one thousand dinars. After […]

Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf Al-Sakafi was always in pursuit of a notable man for a long time. One day when the man he was after was brought before him, he immediately ordered his men to arrest him and send him to the jail. He was ordered to be chained and the blacksmith was brought to fix

Once King Anushirwan, known for his justness, feigned himself sick and asked his attendants to get him a mud-brick from some ruined village. He would use it as medicine. But they couldn’t find any ruined village or castaway mud-brick in his reign. Knowing this, the King rejoiced that it was proved that his kingdom had

Once Iskandar Zulkarnain undertook a journey and came across a tribe of small people holding strange habits. They never possessed any wealth; they dug the graves in front of their doors, swept them daily and kept them clean, never ate meat or animals and ate grass for food. Iskandar was intrigued by the habits of

Once there was a powerful autocratic King of the Banu Israil. One day, a man of horrible looks entered his kingdom to meet him without notice and the King got furious. The stranger then informed him it was the Lord of the House with whose permission he was there and that no man on the

Once upon a time, a King amassed so much wealth that he got a palace built to store it. He appointed several soldiers for its protection. He was so much involved in accumulating wealth that he neglected his state duties and concentrated only in having a good time. One day he asked all his men

A monarch once rode in state with the officers of his kingdom and the grandees of his entourage with much magnificence. He ordered his keeper to bring him the grandest of raiment, his best of horses and donned the clothes full of rubies and jewels. He became so arrogant and proud. Then a man in

In the street of Abu Al-Ayna, there were two women, one of whom had a man as her lover, while the other had a beardless youth as her lover.  One night, they joined together on the terrace-roof of the house, adjacent to Abu Al-Ayna, unaware of the fact that he was near to them. The

Once in the city of Baghdad, a slave-girl named Muunis was displayed for sale to the Emir Ali Bin Mohammed Abdullah Bin Tahir. The girl was much ahead of her fellows in terms of beauty and proliferation, apart from being a great poetess. He asked her, “What does she think of a lover in distress?”

One day, Abu Suwaid with his company of friends entered a garden to buy fruits. He saw an old woman, having a bright face, combing her white hair with an ivory comb. When they stopped by her side, she did not pay heed to them. They then told her if she would dye her hair,

Al-Mutawakkil was sent by Al-Fath bin Khakan several gifts; some very rare precious stones, gold and some medicines. Among these things was also a beautiful slave-girl who had with her a precious vase of crystals containing red wine, goblets of gold and a crystal vase of ruddy wine, upon which a poem inscribed in gold.

Once Al-Amin, brother of Al-Maamun, visited the palace of his uncle, Ibrahim Al-Mahdi. There he saw one of the slave girl playing upon the flute. He found her very fair and beautiful and gave his heart to her.  When his uncle noticed the fascination of his nephew towards the slave-girl, he sent the girl to

Once Abul-Abbas Al-Mubarrad set out with his com-pany to Al-Barid and reached upon the monastery of Hirakl and perched in its shade. Then a man came out and told them about a madman in the monastery who spoke wisdom and that they would be marvelled to listen to his speech. So, they all arose and

Qasim, the son of Adi, wished to identify himself with the man of the Banu Tamim. The latter once went looking for an estray and came across the waters of the Banu Tai and found two people disputing with each other. He observed them closely; a youth from one company was a wornout dried-up water

Once Al-Utbi was sitting amongst educated men, where everybody was telling the stories of the folk. When the discussion arrived at the stories of lover, each of them said his. Out of them, one old man remained silent until everybody spoke, and then asked if he could share something with all, they might not have