First, you have to know a few things about the Arabian Nights. They are not that Arabian and they were written for a courtly culture in the Abbasid Empire that was heavily Persianate. The Arabian Nights, called simply The Book of 1001 Nights in Arabic, are comprised of various stories taken from an international culture that developed in the Abbasid Caliphate around Baghdad in the 8th-10th century and the stories come from Indian, Persian, Greek, and Arab sources. One of the largest sources was, in fact, a Persian book called Hazar Afsad. It is not necessarily reflective of the broader culture. It reflects the culture of the court which was a mixture of Persian and Hellenistic influences but at a time when the ruling class who produced this …show more content…
The values portrayed in many Hollywood films are considered immoral by many Americans. As I recall from a study I read many years ago the 1001 Nights, there was controversy around them in the Arab World. This courtly life of wine and women was at odds with the scholars' values and that of the Ulema (the religious scholars). There is no evidence that the tales were widely known--no quotations or references amongst scholars, but they were popular enough to have survived in several medieval manuscripts from Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. Also, as an aside, the story of Aladdin and his Lamp are not found in the 1001 Nights. That story was added by the first European translator when he translated the tales into French. He claims to have heard it from a Syrian story teller in Damascus, but no Arab source has ever been found so ironically enough, the most famous "Arabian" story is only known from an 18th century French …show more content…
The issue of veiling is complicated. The Quran only instructs that men and women should dress modestly and cover their عورة (Awrah) which is roughly translated as intimate parts and what عورة refers to is disputed. Veiling of the face is not commanded in the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) are ambiguous on the subject. It is clear that the Prophet's wives veiled their faces, but this is indicated as being due to their unique status of wives of the Prophet. Some Islamic traditions define عورة as the hair, chest, belly, private areas, arms to the wrist and legs to the ankle. Some say عورة includes the face as well. There is a lot of disagreement. However, then as now, the elite culture of the ruling class often went by different standards and there are stories of scantily dressed dancing girls and the 1001 Nights refer to sexual trysts, alcohol, and all sorts of un-Islamic things. The writers certainly exaggerated for artistic stylistic effects, but at the same time, there are lots of stories in the Nights about humble men and women who abide by the mores of