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Tales of Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor
Juha is an old Arab comic literary figure (known also to Persians and Turks) around whom countless popular anecdotes were written. He appears variously as preacher and beggar, porter and petty merchant, thief and honest man, judge and social critic, wise man and fool, jester and charlatan (though never as wealthy man or oppressor). While the subject matter is Arab or otherwise Islamic, the humor transcends national and cultural boundaries to achieve a universality that is instantly recognizable and accessible today.
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2006
About the author
Salma Khadra Jayyusi
33 books20 followersSalma Khadra Jayyusi (born 1926 or 1927) is a Jordanian-Palestinian poet, writer, translator and anthologist. She is the founder and director of the Project of Translation from Arabic (PROTA), which aims to provide translation of Arabic literature into English.
In 1960, she published her first poetry collection, Return from the Dreamy Fountain. In 1970, she received her PhD on Arabic literature from the University of London. She taught at the University of Khartoum from 1970 to 1973 and at the universities of Algiers and Constantine from 1973 to 1975. In 1973, she was invited by The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) invited her for a lecture tour of Canada and the US, on a Ford Foundation Fellowship, in 1973. In 1975, the University of Utah invited her to return as a visiting professor of Arabic literature, and since then she has been based at various universities in the United States.
In 1960, she published her first poetry collection, Return from the Dreamy Fountain. In 1970, she received her PhD on Arabic literature from the University of London. She taught at the University of Khartoum from 1970 to 1973 and at the universities of Algiers and Constantine from 1973 to 1975. In 1973, she was invited by The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) invited her for a lecture tour of Canada and the US, on a Ford Foundation Fellowship, in 1973. In 1975, the University of Utah invited her to return as a visiting professor of Arabic literature, and since then she has been based at various universities in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 2, 2023
Tales of Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor
Edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Translated by Matthew R. Sorenson, Faisal Khadra, and Christopher Tingley
•
Juha! Oh silly Juha! What would my childhood look like without you?
•
Juha (Djuha) is such a fixture throughout the Arab World, Iran, and Turkey that I do not remember not knowing about him. He is a sort of buffoon, a silly wise man whose stories are passed on and shared amongst children and adults alike.
•
In the case of Algeria where I am from, Arabic and the Amazigh languages have a strong history of oral tradition, and as such oral narrating performances were an institution throughout North Africa. Then it isn't surprising that Juha's tales have endured from medieval times.
•
In this collection, Salma Khadra Jayyusi gathered some tales of Juha that were translated from Arabic. Most of the stories are short, oscillating between allegorical and humorous. Reading the tales is akin to a walk down memory lane. The nostalgia is there, and I found myself once again giggling as Juha went on with his shenanigans.
•
However, I would like to note that there is an undercurrent of misogyny and fat phobia that permeates some stories. That left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and so, I simply skipped those when I saw them coming.
Edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Translated by Matthew R. Sorenson, Faisal Khadra, and Christopher Tingley
•
Juha! Oh silly Juha! What would my childhood look like without you?
•
Juha (Djuha) is such a fixture throughout the Arab World, Iran, and Turkey that I do not remember not knowing about him. He is a sort of buffoon, a silly wise man whose stories are passed on and shared amongst children and adults alike.
•
In the case of Algeria where I am from, Arabic and the Amazigh languages have a strong history of oral tradition, and as such oral narrating performances were an institution throughout North Africa. Then it isn't surprising that Juha's tales have endured from medieval times.
•
In this collection, Salma Khadra Jayyusi gathered some tales of Juha that were translated from Arabic. Most of the stories are short, oscillating between allegorical and humorous. Reading the tales is akin to a walk down memory lane. The nostalgia is there, and I found myself once again giggling as Juha went on with his shenanigans.
•
However, I would like to note that there is an undercurrent of misogyny and fat phobia that permeates some stories. That left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and so, I simply skipped those when I saw them coming.
February 22, 2025
Amazing! Here are a few of my favorites:
~~~~~
One day talk at Tamerlane's court had turned to the subject of the torments of Gehenna and the misery and torture meted out to heretics there. Juha was present, and Tamerlane addressed him.
"And where, I wonder," he said, "will we be ranked in the afterworld?"
"With the kings and great men," Juha replied, "who have left deathless names behind them."
Tamerlane was quite delighted by this.
"Which kings did you have in mind, Juha?" he asked.
Juha listed a few.
"Such as," he said, "the Pharaoh at the time of Moses, Nimrod, Hülegü, Genghis Khan- people who are like Your Majesty.
~~~~~
"You know, don't you, Juha," Tamerlane said one day, "that each of the Abbasid caliphs had his own particular title - "Successful by the Will of God,' 'Dependent on God,' 'Taking Refuge in God,' 'Trusting in God,' and similar titles? If I'd been one of them, what title do you think I should have taken?"
"Doubtless," Juha answered at once, " Your Majesty would have been called 'It is to God that we Turn."»
~~~~~
The city where Juha lived had a drunkard for a judge. One day the judge went to a nearby orchard, got dead drunk and put his turban and cloak to one side. Juha, who was out walking, came upon the judge, snatched the cloak, put it on and
walked off.
Eventually the judge sobered up and missed the cloak and he gave the court clerk the task of finding it and bringing in the thief. The clerk searched around, and, finding Juha wearing it, took him off to the judge, who asked him how he'd come by that particular cloak.
"Yesterday," Juha said, "I went to an orchard with some friends, and we stumbled on a drunk who was sleeping it off. He was in the most appalling state. So, I took his cloak and put it on. I can produce Witnesses to support this, and they'll tell you and everyone else who this drunkard was."
"We're not interested." the judge said, "in the identity of this worthless person. Wear the cloak to your heart's desire. I want nothing to do with the owner.”
~~~~~
Juha and his son were standing alongside as a funeral procession passed. The widow was lamenting and addressing her deceased husband.
"They're taking you," she said, "to place where there is no bed, or cover, or carpet, or food, or water".
"By Almighty God," Juha's son said, "they're taking him to our house!"
~~~~~
One day talk at Tamerlane's court had turned to the subject of the torments of Gehenna and the misery and torture meted out to heretics there. Juha was present, and Tamerlane addressed him.
"And where, I wonder," he said, "will we be ranked in the afterworld?"
"With the kings and great men," Juha replied, "who have left deathless names behind them."
Tamerlane was quite delighted by this.
"Which kings did you have in mind, Juha?" he asked.
Juha listed a few.
"Such as," he said, "the Pharaoh at the time of Moses, Nimrod, Hülegü, Genghis Khan- people who are like Your Majesty.
~~~~~
"You know, don't you, Juha," Tamerlane said one day, "that each of the Abbasid caliphs had his own particular title - "Successful by the Will of God,' 'Dependent on God,' 'Taking Refuge in God,' 'Trusting in God,' and similar titles? If I'd been one of them, what title do you think I should have taken?"
"Doubtless," Juha answered at once, " Your Majesty would have been called 'It is to God that we Turn."»
~~~~~
The city where Juha lived had a drunkard for a judge. One day the judge went to a nearby orchard, got dead drunk and put his turban and cloak to one side. Juha, who was out walking, came upon the judge, snatched the cloak, put it on and
walked off.
Eventually the judge sobered up and missed the cloak and he gave the court clerk the task of finding it and bringing in the thief. The clerk searched around, and, finding Juha wearing it, took him off to the judge, who asked him how he'd come by that particular cloak.
"Yesterday," Juha said, "I went to an orchard with some friends, and we stumbled on a drunk who was sleeping it off. He was in the most appalling state. So, I took his cloak and put it on. I can produce Witnesses to support this, and they'll tell you and everyone else who this drunkard was."
"We're not interested." the judge said, "in the identity of this worthless person. Wear the cloak to your heart's desire. I want nothing to do with the owner.”
~~~~~
Juha and his son were standing alongside as a funeral procession passed. The widow was lamenting and addressing her deceased husband.
"They're taking you," she said, "to place where there is no bed, or cover, or carpet, or food, or water".
"By Almighty God," Juha's son said, "they're taking him to our house!"
November 10, 2013
This brief book - easily read in an evening -- collects translated versions of various jokes and short folktales about the Arabic trickster/ character Juha. The collection is edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi, which is what initially brought me to it - she's edited a long list of other excellent anthologies. She has a short introduction explaining how the book came to be; another introduction unfortunately focuses fruitlessly on the nature of the humor in the stories - humor is almost always pointless to analyse, especially when one is just about to show it directly -- and the introduction largely neglects to provide much insight into the cultural context for Juha stories. According to Wikipedia the character features in stories from across the Arabic-speaking world, and has become entangled with the originally-distinct Turkish or Persian figure of Nasreddin.
Some of the stories will be familiar to an American reader, such as the one about looking for a lost object in a totally different place than where it was lost, because the light was bad where it was lost. Some of the stories are painfully misogynistic; some are just heartless, laughing at a sucker's pain or misfortune. But a number are laugh out loud funny, and many certainly draw a chuckle or a smirk -- and invite reuse. Alas, I don't remember stories like this easily, and so am unlikely to have them on call when the perfect moment arises.
One of my favorites (and one of the shortest) [p.88]:
"One day people heard [Juha] running along and singing.
'What's all this about?' they asked him. 'This running and singing?'
'I like to listen to my own voice from a distance', he told them.
And another [p.49]:
Juha and his son were standing alongside as a funeral procession passed. The widow was lamenting, and addressing her dead husband.
'They're taking you,' she said, 'to a place where there's no bed, or cover, or carpet, or food, or water.'
'By Almighty God, father,' Juha's son said, 'it's our house they're going to!'
Some of the stories will be familiar to an American reader, such as the one about looking for a lost object in a totally different place than where it was lost, because the light was bad where it was lost. Some of the stories are painfully misogynistic; some are just heartless, laughing at a sucker's pain or misfortune. But a number are laugh out loud funny, and many certainly draw a chuckle or a smirk -- and invite reuse. Alas, I don't remember stories like this easily, and so am unlikely to have them on call when the perfect moment arises.
One of my favorites (and one of the shortest) [p.88]:
"One day people heard [Juha] running along and singing.
'What's all this about?' they asked him. 'This running and singing?'
'I like to listen to my own voice from a distance', he told them.
And another [p.49]:
Juha and his son were standing alongside as a funeral procession passed. The widow was lamenting, and addressing her dead husband.
'They're taking you,' she said, 'to a place where there's no bed, or cover, or carpet, or food, or water.'
'By Almighty God, father,' Juha's son said, 'it's our house they're going to!'
August 14, 2016
A collection of mediaeval Arabic humorous folk anecdotes attached to the name of Juha, a sort of Arab Till Eulenspiegal. Some are funny, some not so funny, some old chestnuts we have all heard a thousand times attached to other characters, few that anyone would find offensive. There is a certain amount of satire of wealth and political corruption. A quick, fun read.
May 22, 2020
This collection of witty and humorous stories of the Arab culture shows more than anything the universality of cultures celebrating wit through humor. Having recently read a collection of similar tales from Latin America edited by John Bierhorst I can’t help but smile at the numerous analogous stories. As with any collection, some stories shine brighter but all still serve to show the innate desire to celebrate someone outwitting someone stronger or more powerful.
October 14, 2015
Amazingly wonderful! I remember these as being my favorite childhood tales that I read in Arabic. It's time now to revisit them in English. Great work is done here by the remarkable Salma Jayyusi. I truly respect this academic for being such a great representative of Arabic literature in particular and the Arabian heritage in general.
February 24, 2016
thank u
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews