TEXT 2 is for no. 21-30THE STORY OF LAYLA AND MAJNUN
Qays ibn al-Mulawwah was just a boy when he fell deeply in love with Layla Al-Aamiriya. He was sure of
this love on the very first day he laid eyes upon her at school. He soon began to write beautiful love poems about
Layla and he would read them out loud on street corners to anybody who would care to listen. Such passionate
displays of love and devotion caused many to refer to the boy as Majnun, meaning madman.
One day, Majnun found the courage to ask Layla’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but her
father refused the request. Such a marriage, the father reasoned, would only cause a scandal. It would not be
proper for his daughter to marry a person whom everybody called 'madman'. Instead, Layla was promised to
another.
Majnun was overcome with grief and abandoned his home and family and disappeared into the
wilderness. He lived a miserable life of solitude among the wild animals, spending his days composing poems to
his beloved Layla. Layla was forced to marry another man and, although she did not love him because her heart
still belonged to Majnun, she remained a faithful wife.
The news of this marriage was devastating to Majnun who continued to live a life of solitude, refusing to
return home to his mother and father in the city.
Majnun’s mother and father missed their son terribly and longed every day for his safe return home.
They would leave food for him at the bottom of the garden in the hopes that one day he would come back to
them out of the desert. But Majnun remained in the wilderness, writing his poetry in solitude, never speaking to
a single soul.
Majnun spent all of his time alone, surrounded only by the animals of the wilderness that gathered
around him and protected him during the long desert nights. He was often seen by travellers who would pass
him on their way towards the city. The travellers said that Majnun spent his days reciting poetry to himself and
writing in the sand with a long stick; they said that he truly was driven to madness with a broken heart.
Many years later, Majnun’s father and mother both passed away. Knowing of his devotion to his parents,
Layla was determined to send Majnun word of their passing. Eventually she found an old man who claimed to
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have seen Majnun in the desert. After much begging and pleading the old man agreed to pass on a message the
next time he set off on his travels.
One day, the old man crossed paths with Majnun in the desert. There he solemnly delivered the news
concerning the death of Majnun’s parents and was forced to witness what a terrible blow this was to the young
poet.
Overcome with regret and loss, Majnun cut himself off from the world entirely and vowed to live in the
desert until his own death.
Some years later, Layla’s husband died. The young woman hoped that finally she would be with her one
true love; that finally she and Majnun would be together forever. But sadly, this was not to be. Tradition
demanded that Layla remain in her home alone to grieve for her dead husband for two whole years without
seeing another soul. The thought of not being with Majnun for two more years was more than Layla could bear.
They had been separated for a lifetime and two more years of solitude, two more years without seeing her
beloved, was enough to cause the young woman to give up on life. Layla died of a broken heart, alone in her
home without ever seeing Majnun again.
News of Layla’s death reached Majnun in the wilderness. He immediately travelled to the place where
Layla had been buried and there he wept and wept until he too surrendered to the impossible grief and died at
the graveside of his one true love.
‘I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla
And kiss this wall and that wall.
It’s not love of the houses that has taken my heart
but of the One who dwells in those houses.’

21. What made Qays ibn al-Mulawwah called as
Majnun?
a. His true love
b. His mental illness
c. His ugly physical appearance
d. His great passion and devotion to Layla
that made him always read his poems in
public.
e. His great passion and unconditional love
that made him stays in front of Layla’s
house.
22. How does the story end eventually? It shows …
a. Sad ending
b. Happy ending
c. Open ending
d. Mysterious one
e. Sad-happy ending
23. What does the text above talk about?
a. Broken heart parents
b. A newly happy couple
c. Lovers who finally live happily after all the
struggle
d. Lovers who can’t unite although they love
each other till they die
e. Parents who unite their children to be
united in a happy marriage
24. Why did Layla’s father refuse Majnun to marry
Layla? Because …
a. Majnun was jobless
b. He hated Majnun
c. He didn’t like Majnun
d. Layla loved another man
e. What Majnun had done led to scandal for
his daughter