In the Great Khan’s Tent Saif Beg

In this episode, we reach the exciting conclusion of the story of “The Story of Ghanim, the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 44 and 45. We then begin a thrilling and exciting epic story, one of many within the One Thousand and One Nights, titled “The Story of Sultan Umar al-Nu’man and his sons Sharkhan and Dau’ al-Makan and the Strange and Remarkable things that happened to them” which continues Night 45 and goes into Night 46.
This story is on the same level as any of the Greek Heroic tales, as this episode sets up the story of the three main characters, Sultan 'Umar, Sharkhan, and Dau' al-Makan and their secondary companions so far, the concubine of Sultan Umar, Sufiyeh, and the Vizir Dandan.
It is interesting to note here that this is the first appearance and reference to the Byzantine or Greek characters appearing in the story as well as the first appearance of the historical region known as Lesser Armenia centered around the old city of Caesaria or Mazaca.
However, note the setting this story takes place in.
This was before the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan (685-705 CE), which was still in the Umayyad dynasty and Baghdad is the central place of Sultan Umar’s Empire. The storyteller and the subsequent writer may have wanted to tell the tale in a setting far removed from the Abbasid court and in a time when there was still tribulations and anarchy in the Umayyad Caliphate due to rebellions and various movements within the shaky foundations of the Caliphate which was only to fall a mere 50 years later to the Abbasids in 750 CE.
While it is certain that there was no Sultan Umar in Baghdad, this story could have its roots in the porous border regions of the Caliphate and Byzantium and would be an attempt to explain to the listeners of the time period the issues that were being faced at this time.
Finally, it should be noted that this story does not appear in the Edward William Lane’s translation of the One Thousand and one night without any explanation.
This will be the focus on an upcoming Special Episode coming out soon.

Announcing our Merchandise Store has now opened! 
In this episode, we conclude our first special series "In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Tales from Central Asia" with Episode 4 focusing on tales from the Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, and Kazakh ethnic groups.
The first two stories that are told are the Azerbaijani tales “The Story of Zarniyar Who Had All Her Wits About Her” and “Sheidullah the Loafer”.
The story of Sheidullah the Loafer is an interesting one as it is one of the only tales we have encountered in this special series and in our main series The One Thousand and One Nights so far where this main character does not have any redeeming traits at all. This clearly is meant to be a moral tale warning of the acts of sloth, laziness, and not performing your duty when other people are relying on you.
The third tale we encounter is the Kyrgyz story of “Which was the Biggest?” Do you know which was the biggest? Email me your answer at inthegreatkhanstent@gmail.com and I’ll compile the answers and present all the votes on the next episode!
The last tale we encounter in this special series if the Kazakh tale of “Aldar-Kose and Shigai-Bai”. Aldar-Kose is a extremely popular character in Kazakhstan and is known for all the tricks he plays on those who are greedy or on evil Khans but is also kind and helps the poor and the weak.
Although this special series is ending, fear not listeners! We have a new special series in the works and it will begin soon. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode!

This is the Trailer for In The Great Khan's Tent! 

This episode marks two important milestones that we have reached here at In The Great Khan’s Tent!
Firstly this is the 40th episode we have reached! Secondly, we have reached 2,000 all time downloads!
Both could not have happened without the support of our listeners, our supporters, and those who continue with us on our journey to examine the Literature and Folk Literature from the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, Mongolia and the Russian Far East.
We will continue to strive to bring you the same informative, educational, and entertaining content that we have been doing! Thank you all and hope you continue this journey with us!
In light of reaching these milestones, I have decided to update our cover art and logo. I would really appreciate your comments if you like this one or prefer our older one.
In this episode, we continue our exiting exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights with the continuation of the story of “The Story of Ghanim, the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 42 and 43.
Once again the historical characters of Harun al-Rashid and Jafar al-Barmaki appear but this time, their roles are clearly superseded by our main characters, Ghanim and Qut al-Qulub, and they are reduced to being secondary characters.
What differs from other stories we have encountered so far that feature Harun al-Rashid, he this time appears as someone who is more religiously inclined than before with clear issues about being punished in the afterlife. This is shown by  how many times both Qut al-Qulub and his main wife Zubeydah, are either told to as in the case of Zubeydah by the old woman, or is known as when Qut al-Qulub indicates.
This indicates, to me, that this might have been told and written down when Harun al-Rashid was older and somewhat more mature than was previously shown.
We are also re-introduced to the characters of Ghanim’s mother and his sister, Fitneh, as they appear lamenting the supposed loss of Ghanim. The concept of mistaken identity is continual here with how often all three women characters overlook Ghanim due to the troubles he finds himself in and the state, both mentally and physically, he is reduced to due to his separation from Qut al-Qulub.
In the next episode, we will conclude our special series, In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Tales from Central Asia, with Episode 4. However, fear not listeners, we will have a new special series to replace this one coming out next month!

In this episode, we continue our exciting exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights, with the story of “The Story of Ghanim the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 40 and 41.
We are first told the story of the first slave, Buhkait, and how he eventually found himself castrated. We then listen to the story of the second slave, Kafur, and the mischief he inflicted on his master and the city before getting his supposed comeuppance.
We finally then return back to our main character, Ghanim the son of Ayyub, and what he found in the chest that the three slaves had carried and had attempted to bury in the graveyard.
As you listen to this episode, consider why Ghanim could have gotten the title of the “Distracted Slave of Love” by considering what he went to Baghdad to do and what he was actually doing.
This episode is important as it highlights one of the great divergences that begins to take place within the One Thousand and One Nights translations that we will have to deal with as we continue our explorations with this work. The story of the first slave, Buhkait, was excluded from the translation of Edward William Lane, on account of its content, but was included in the translation of John Payne and of Richard Burton. Payne's version of this tale, by my estimation, was significantly toned down due to English sensibilities in contrast to Burton's version which ramped up the obscenity.
If you need a refresher on Obscenity and Bowdlerization within the One Thousand and One Nights, then refer back to our One Year Special Episode 1 where we dealt with the groundwork on this issue.

Welcome to In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Ramadan or Ramzan, if you prefer, Special Episode Part 2!
In our final special episode for this holy month of Ramadan, we delve into two tales of lesser known and uniquely Arab, Prophets, Salih (A.S.) who was sent to the people of Thamud, located in what we would know as present day Saudi Arabia, and Shu’ayb (A.S.) who was sent to two groups of people, the people of Midian and the people of the Thicket, both of whom are also located in the present day region of Saudi Arabia.
The tale of Salih (A.S.) is an interesting one and delves into the problems of asking a prophet for a sign of his prophethood. In Salih (A.S.) case, he had given the people of Thamud a she-camel which provided them with endless milk but their hatred and jealousy against him caused them to strike out against the camel and invite their own destruction. Of interesting note here is that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), does interact with the legacy of Salih (A.S.) and the remains left after Allah destroyed them. He warns his companions, as he travels through this region, to not drink the water or even enter the town. Furthermore, the Prophet (PBUH) warns of people of asking for signs of prophethood since it is tantamount that people are really asking for the destruction of themselves and their people.
The tale of Shu’ayb (A.S.) is unique from the tale of Hud (A.S.) and that of Salih (A.S.) in that while Shu’ayb (A.S.) did ask people to come to righteousness, he also especially targeted the people of Midian and the people of the Thicket to stop exploiting people through devious means particularly through modified and erroneous use of weights and measures as well as to stop them from highway robbery.
In the next episode we will continue our retelling of the One Thousand and One Nights with the continuation of “The Story of Ghanim the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love”.