Conceptions of Justice in the 1001 Nights

NYUAD Institute

December 7, 2020 In this talk, Enass Khansa examines both the meaning and application of justice in The Thousand and One Nights (Alf Laylah wa-Laylah). She shows that the opening story, or frame tale, as well as the two immediately following stories, "The Merchant and the Genie" and "The Fisherman and the ‘Ifrīt," engage in a cohesive debate about the coincidence of successful interpretation and just rulership. In doing so, the stories broach a question of ethics frequently encountered in advice literature (nasihat al-muluk). Speaker Enass Khansa, Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages, American University of Beirut; Editor, Library of Arabic LiteratureDecember 7, 2020 In this talk, Enass Khansa examines both the meaning and application of justice in The Thousand and One Nights (Alf Laylah wa-Laylah). She shows that the opening story, or frame tale, as well as the two immediately following stories, "The Merchant and the Genie" and "The Fisherman and the ‘Ifrīt," engage in a cohesive debate about the coincidence of successful interpretation and just rulership. In doing so, the stories broach a question of ethics frequently encountered in advice literature (nasihat al-muluk). Speaker Enass Khansa, Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages, American University of Beirut; Editor, Library of Arabic Literature