I first became interested in Layla Majnun after a conversation with Ustaz Hakim Ramlee about Sufism following a session of Sekolah Demokrasi. At one point, we touched on the story of Layla and Majnun, and he shared a line that immediately caught my attention. When the king questioned Majnun about what was so beautiful about Layla, Majnun essentially replied, “You do not see Layla through my eyes.” That idea alone gave me a new perspective on how we perceive the world. It made me realise that beauty is not always an objective quality that everyone should be able to recognise. Sometimes, what makes something beautiful is the meaning we attach to it, the experiences we associate with it, and the way we see it through our own eyes. What seems ordinary to one person can be extraordinary to another. That conversation made me curious enough to search for the book and eventually buy this Indonesian translation of Nizami Ganjavi’s Layla Majnun, published by Narasi in Yogyakarta. Beyond its reputation as a tragic love story, the poem offers a deeper exploration of longing, devotion, and the transformative power of love. Through a Sufi lens, Majnun’s overwhelming love for Layla can also be understood as a reflection of the soul’s longing for something greater than itself, even pointing towards divine love. For me, the most interesting part of this classic is not simply how much Majnun loves Layla, but how that love changes the way he experiences reality. It challenges us to question whether we truly see things as they are, or merely through the limitations of our own perspectives. Sometimes, understanding another person does not require us to agree with what they see. It requires us to recognise that we may be looking at the same thing through entirely different eyes. Perhaps that is what makes Layla Majnun more than a love story. It is an invitation to reconsider the nature of beauty, love, and the way we understand the world.
26 Oct 2026