18 hours ago
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- The National
Junoon: The Arabic word for madness and obsession - not to mention anger and irrationality
The seventh-century Arabic poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah is said to have been deeply in love with a woman named Layla. He wrote to her and about her constantly, so much so that after his death, he was referred to as Majnun Layla, which translates to 'the one mad about Layla'.
The 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi immortalised their tale with his poem titled Majnun Layla. Despite their deep affection, societal pressures and family opposition keep them apart. Layla is married off to another man, while Majnun retreats to the wilderness, composing verses in her memory. Their love, pure, yet tragic, symbolises the agony of longing and the spiritual depth of true devotion. It's often called the "Romeo and Juliet" of the East.
Majnoon (or majnun) comes from the word junoon, which is the Arabic word of the week. Junoon means madness and obsession, it can also convey anger and irrationality. Much like al-Mulawwah, a madman is a majnun and the plural is majaneen.
Junoon is also used in the context of losing focus and concentration. If a person does something illogical and out of character, an immediate response might be 'inta janait?' which means "have you gone mad"?
One idiom that uses the word is 'al junoon funoon', which translates to 'the art of madness'. It's used when seemingly random things coalesce to create something that is beautiful together. Junoon is also the Arabic word used for the faint buzzing sound a fly makes.
The word is also found in other languages – it has the same meaning in Hindi and Urdu. It is also the title of the 2015 collaboration album Junun by English composer Jonny Greenwood, Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and the Indian ensemble, the Rajasthan Express.
Junoon can also be used to express delusions of grandeur disorder, junoon al athama. Delusions of grandeur are false beliefs in one's extraordinary importance, talent or identity.
