In The Great Khan’s Tent Episode 29: The Arabian Nights Part 27

In this episode, we continue with our exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights, with the exciting conclusion of the story of “The Story of Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis” with Night 38 and begin a new story, “The Story of Ghanim the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Night 39.

The role played by Harun al-Rashid in the story of Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis clearly is another, more calmer and rational, aspect of his personality than what we saw in the “The Story of the Humpback”. While he does continue to threat Ja’far al-Barmaki with death if he does not do exactly as he says, his sense of justice is clearly more sharpened in this story than the previous one, especially in regards to the vizir al-Mo’in the son of Sawi and the Sultan, Muhammad the son of Suleyman al-Zeyni, who is his cousin.

This story also shows how the power base of the Abbasid Khalifate was built around with vital posts, such as the Sultan of Basra, being given to his family members rather than anyone from outside the immediate tribal connection.

The new story of Ghanim, returns us to the root of who these stories were really meant for with the main character being the son of the merchant who also becomes a merchant selling his wares in the city of Baghdad having traveled from his home in Damascus. We are not told yet as to why he has the appellation of “The Distracted Slave of Love” though hopefully the story will tell us. This story is once again set in the time of Harun al-Rashid, once again indicating that this story maybe one of the core stories of the One Thousand and One Nights.