‘Qays & Layla’ Brings Historic Love Stories to Digital World

Moviegoers wait to attend a screening, at the King Abdullah Financial District Theater, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 18, 2018. (AP Photo)
Moviegoers wait to attend a screening, at the King Abdullah Financial District Theater, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 18, 2018. (AP Photo)
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‘Qays & Layla’ Brings Historic Love Stories to Digital World

Moviegoers wait to attend a screening, at the King Abdullah Financial District Theater, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 18, 2018. (AP Photo)
Moviegoers wait to attend a screening, at the King Abdullah Financial District Theater, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 18, 2018. (AP Photo)

“Qays & Layla” is one of many Arabic stories that generations of lovers inherited and admired for all the meanings of love between the insane Qays Ibn al-Mulawwah and his ladylove Layla al-Aamiriya.

Their story, which dates back to the 5th century AD, was never proven real by historians, but it became a legend and a symbol of eternal love. “Qays & Layla” is now back to life in Riyadh, but this time, it takes place in the technology era.

The Theater and Performance Arts Commission has created a new version of “Qays & Layla” with a contemporary and comic style that narrates the story in the current, digital era dominated by techs and social media.

Planned for nine days, the play is part of the events and live performances organized by the association in an attempt to highlight the local, cultural heritage, create modern arts that combine music and different forms of performance arts, and encourage the young talents on developing a local content that revives the Saudi heritage.

“Qays & Layla” is one of the most known Arabic love stories that revolve around passion, separation, and madness. The story’s protagonist was given several titles including the most popular “Majnoun Layla” (the mad of Layla).

Layla was Qays’ cousin, he grew up with her, loved her, and wrote her poems that people still read and memorize in our days. Layla’s parents refused to marry her to Qays, which made him leave and move to Najd, Hijaz, Damascus, but he never managed to forget her.



10 Endangered Black Rhinos Sent from S.Africa to Mozambique

Kenya Wildlife Services veterinarians and rangers rush to aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park on June 07, 2025. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)
Kenya Wildlife Services veterinarians and rangers rush to aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park on June 07, 2025. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)
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10 Endangered Black Rhinos Sent from S.Africa to Mozambique

Kenya Wildlife Services veterinarians and rangers rush to aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park on June 07, 2025. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)
Kenya Wildlife Services veterinarians and rangers rush to aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park on June 07, 2025. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)

Ten black rhinos have been moved from South Africa to Mozambique to secure breeding of the critically endangered animals that became locally extinct 50 years ago, conservationists said Thursday.

The five male and five female rhinos were transferred to Mozambique's Zinave National Park in a 48-hour road trip last week, said the Peace Parks Foundation, which took part in the translocation.

"It was necessary to introduce these 10 to make the population viable," communication coordinator Lesa van Rooyen told AFP.

The new arrivals will "secure the first founder population of black rhinos since becoming locally extinct five decades ago,” South Africa's environment ministry, which was also involved, said in a statement.

Twelve black rhinos had previously been sent from South Africa to Zinave in central Mozambique but the population was still not viable for breeding, Van Rooyen said.

Twenty-five white rhinos, which are classified as less threatened, were also translocated in various operations.

The global black rhino population dropped by 96 percent between 1970 and 1993, reaching a low of only 2,300 surviving in the wild, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

Decades of conservation efforts allowed the species to slowly recover and the population is estimated at 6,421 today.

Once abundant across sub-Saharan Africa, rhino numbers fell dramatically due to hunting by European colonizers and large-scale poaching, with their horns highly sought after on black markets particularly in Asia.

Mozambique's population of the large animals was depleted during the 15-year civil war, which ended in 1992 and pushed many people to desperate measures to "survive in very difficult circumstances", van Rooyen said.

Years of rewilding efforts have established Zinave as Mozambique’s only national park home to the "Big Five" game animals -- elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo.