Qays ibn al-Mulawwah
Qays ibn al-Mulawwah | |
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A sketch of Qays ibn al-Mulawwah by the Lebanese-American poet and artist Kahlil Gibran. | |
| Born | Qays bin Al-Mulawwah bin Muzahim Najd, Arabia |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Language | Classical Arabic |
| Period | Umayyad Caliphate |
Qays ibn al-Moullawwah (Arabic: قَيْسُ بْنُ الْمُلَوَّحِ بْنُ مُزَاحِمٍ الْعَامِرِيّ, romanized: Qays ibn al-Mulawwaḥ ibn Muzāḥim al-ʿĀmirī) was a 7th-century Arabian poet from Najd, Arabia, a member of the Bedouin tribe Banu 'Amir. He lived during the Umayyad Caliphate. Qays was renowned for his profound love for Layla, a woman who belong to the same tribe, which gave him a posthumous epithet of Majnūn (madman).
According to early historical accounts by narrators such as Ibn Qutaybah and al-Isfahani, Qays and Layla were cousins belonging to the Banu Amir tribe. These sources report that the pair first encountered each other as children while tending their flocks in the desert, and their early bond eventually gave rise to the enduring legend of Majnun and Layla.