Love without chastity and abstinence
Is not love, it's licentious violence;
Love is the mirror of celestial light
And is untouched by sensual appetite,
Love that is a sensual craving cannot last,
It's fleeting, in a moment it has passed.
To love is to be pure, forsaking lust
And resurrected from our earthly dust,
This is what true love is, this is the Way.
Their story is written not only in Persian but in various other renditions over centuries. Layla and Majnun drips with passion, but goes far beyond the usual frustrated-lovers storyline in its treatment of the ideal versus the real; certainly, part of the fascination of Layla and Majnun is in how different the arc of the romance story is from the more familiar variations.
Qais gave his soul up for her beauty's sake,
He stole her heart, his soul was hers to take;
She saw his face and gave her heart, but knew
She must still act as chaste girls have to do.
Majnun is the much-loved son of a wealthy Arab king. The name he is originally given is Qays, but already in his youth and after he's fallen head over heels for Layla he's called Majnun, "A man who's mad"; it's the name that's then used throughout the poem when referring to him. Majnun's desperation, and madness, are only exacerbated by the shattering refusal. His father continues to try to be supportive, but single-minded Majnun can't be helped; even a pilgrimage to Mecca. His father hopes can't shake his obsession. As his father notes after their trip: "All his hopes and prayers were that he'd be / Cursed with this passion for eternity"
Layli's unwell and weak; after a while
She'll be quite well again, and make us smile --
That's when the marriage plans can go ahead
If Layla is not so demonstrative in her misery, it is nevertheless also deep-seated; she too is destined never to be 'quite well again' certainly not in the hands of anyone but her true love. Layla is then married off to the worthy Ebn Salam, but Layli won't permit him to consummate the marriage; she makes it very clear to him that her heart and soul belong to another.
Their love was true and real, untouched by lust,
By worldly perfection and mistrust.