The Thousand and One Nights, Book Review Example

Introduction

The assignment is based on the stories the “The thousand and one nights”  which was a collection of South and Middle East stories and were initially written in Arabic and were first translated to English in 1706. Since then there have been edited severally and widely used for academic purposes especially in literature.  The story has many themes but for the purpose of this assignment I shall evaluate on the theme, aspect/role of God and religion in the story. The story revolves in family setup and the role of God and religion is depicted on how it influences the livelihood of the communities which used to stay during those days. The religion setup of the story is in Muslim as that was the religion being practiced in the area where the ancient stories were being based on.

God and Religion

The story states by praising God for being the creator of the universe. It states that God should be praised for he is the beneficent king who created the universe by rasining the heavens and he did not use pillars and was also capable to spread the earth as a bed. It further states that the apostles should be filled with peace and blessings form their lord and master Mohammad.

Most societies have a teaching of how the universe comes to be how it is today. In relation to this story the  communities which were living in regions were Muslims therefore they obtained the role of God in creation from religious teachings. For religious people this is a believe which it is considered being respectful or defiant with the religion teachings if at all one tend to challenge the religion arguments, teachings and believes.

In the story the author emphasized on how God is powerful and the roles he plays in the community by blessing them and their families. The author has used the lives of the former generations as the bases of his lesson to those who are living and mainly on the lesson to the future generations. The story provides a review of how former regenerations lived and get necessary insight on how they would live.

Observation and evaluation of how the previous generations have lived by analyzing their progress and the mistake which they made provides a better understanding on what the current and future generation should do. Hence, they shall be able to decide on what they would do and what they should not do for them to be prosperous as well as be fulfilling the teachings of their religion.

Although the community setup which the story was set up was religious it is characterized by immorality which is evidence in the oral traditions which are being narrated in the story. The narrator who has as well taken the role of being a teacher is able to relate the ideas of jealously, misogyny and violence to king Shahryar on whom the story is based on.

The narrator provides a balanced picture of the wrongs which were done by human and tries to educate king to be able to see and understand the errors which are on his way. In the story there are instances of women who were evil and unfaithful. According to religion teachings being evil and unfaithful is a vice which is not in line with religion teachings. There were also idiocy of men in the society, for example the king Shahriyar wife was found in bed with a slave black man by the king him self and he killed both of them. The king later seamed to have become violent and he becomes determined to sleep with a woman every night and then kill them.

The story elaborates the aspect of sexuality immorality in the society by elaborating that most people in the society were immoral. All women were viewed as harlot because they were used to sleep with any man when their husbands live. However, not all who were immoral there those who would prove that they are not sex objects as it were being believed by many.

The story shows on how females would use their sexuality to influence men for they had realized that men were weak in desiring of the women. Such immorality instances in the community stains its religion believe and practices. The role of religion in the story is to provide the norms and practices which they should be practices by the society.

Therefore, the religious  teachings are the ones which stipulate on what need to be done in the society and defines what is right and wrong. The king’s wife was being condemned for sleeping with the black slave, while the religion men were practicing polygamy therefore there was no difference in such sins in the eyes of God. God is believed to apply his ruling to be equal to all so if he condemns sexual immorality then it applies to  both men and women.

The story also elaborates on the power which God has and being able to bless his apostles by giving them peace and blessing. The blessings which God gave were to those who adhere to his teachings and practice them as required by the religion. This is the main teaching which the society should follow. Therefore, the story shows on how lives of the former generations lived and practiced the religion teaching.

Those who adhere to the teachings of the religion lived a happy life and were contented with what they had for God had given them peace and blessings.

Conclusion

The story seamed to be infinity and immortality as it was a continuation of nights events one after the other. The sequence of events was not ending as it represented a continuation of issues which took place in a society. The role of God or religion in the story was mainly to define what is right and wrong so that the community would be morally upright.

It also evaluates on how people related with each other in quest to promote each others faith in the religious teachings which they share. Religion teachings as way of life is also passed over through oral narrative as its being done in this story which is evaluating on how the previous generations have lived with an aim of improving the current generation and the future generation as well.

Work Cited

Byatt, A & Burton, Richard. The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights. New York: Modern Library. 2001