Censorship Aspects in Arabian Nights by Nabilah Mohd Nor and Pamela Mandy Monok, for Children's Literature (BBI 3218). Universiti Putra Malaysia 2013

1. By
Pamela Mandy Monok 156209
Nabilah Mohd Nor 156343

2.  The Story of King
Shahryar and His
Brother (KSHB)
 Aladdin and the Magic
Lamp (AML)
 The Tale of Nur al-Din
Ali and His Son
(NDAHS)

3.  Racism
 Offensive Language
 Violence
 Nudity
 Sexually Explicit
Episodes
 Occult and Satanic
Themes
 Religious Viewpoints

5.  Direct downgrading of another race
 Characters stereotyped as hideous and
unworthy of respect/praise:
▪ … and his wife is in love with the filthiest of filthy
slaves. (KSHB, pg. 6)
▪ … hideous blackamoor (KSHB, pg. 9)
▪ … a big slobbering blackamoor (KSHB, pg. 5)

6.  Characters stereotyped as evil by
learning and thriving on forbidden
crafts:
▪ This Moor was an African, born in the interior of
Morocco, and from his childhood on, he had been
addicted to witchcraft… Then one day he
discovered through a satanic inspiration… (AML,
pg. 140-141)

8. The use of obscene language – swear
words:
 … what will this damned whore do during my long absence
at my brother’s court? (KSHB, pg. 4)
 My only satisfaction is that the little bastard … (AML, pg.
188)
 You whore! … (NDAHS, pg. 291)
 … for he who doesn’t know the names of his mother and
father is a bastard, a son of adultery… (NDAHS, pg. 294)

9.  Disconfirms people with disabilities
 Taunts and downgrades a physically disabled
person:
 … while the gobbo bridegroom was left sitting
alone like a tailless baboon. (NDAHS, pg. 283)
 Woe to you, you hunchback, you stinkard, you
filthiest of grooms! (NDAHS, pg. 285)

11.  So he drew his scimitar, cut the two in four pieces
with a single blow, and left them on the couch.
(KSHB, pg. 4)
 Then King Shahryar took his sword in hand and went
to the seraglio, where he slew all the concubines
and their mamelukes. (KSHB, pg. 12)
 … he would take his new wife’s maidenhead at
night and slay her the next morning to make sure of
his honor,…(KSHB, pg. 12)
 After doing this, he unsheathed his sword and slew
the villain. (AML, pg. 201)

13.  They stripped off their clothes, and Shah Zaman
suddenly realized that ten of them were women,
concubines of the king, and the other ten were
white slaves. (KSHB, pg. 5)
 Then she stripped off her outer garment, and she
threw open her chemise from the neck downward
and showed her womb and the rondure of her hips.
(NDAHS, pg. 286)

15.  Then he mounted her, and winding his legs
around hers, as a button loop clasps a
button, he tossed her to the ground and
enjoyed her. The other slaves did the same
with the girls until they had all satisfied their
passions, and they did not stop kissing,
coupling, and carousing until the day began
to wane. (KSHB, pg. 6)

16.  Thereupon, the Lady of Beauty embraced him, and
he took her into his arms, set her legs around his
waist, and aimed his cannon point-blank at the spot
where it would batter down the bulwark of
maidenhead and lay it to waste. And he found her a
pearl unpierced and a filly unridden by men except
himself. So he took her virginity and enjoyed her
youth in his virility, and soon he withdrew sword
from sheath. (NDAHS, pg. 287)

17.  … his wife, asleep on his own couch, in her arms
she held a black cook with crude features.. (KSHB,
pg. 4)
 The lady laughed heartily, and they all began to
satisfy their lust and continued to do so for a
couple of hours. (KSHB, pg. 9)
 I want you to mount me and show me how nicely
you can sit on my saddle, … (KSHB, pg. 10)
 But I have lain under as many men as I’ve desired,..
(KSHB, pg. 10)

19.  … the smoke turned into a jinnee, huge, broad-
chested, and burly. His brow was wide, his skin
black, and on his head was a crystal chest. (KSHB, pg.
9)
 All at once, there was some smoke and an
enormous jinnee appeared before him and said, “I
am at your service, master! Your slave has come. Ask
whatever you want, for I am the thrall of whoever
wears my lord and master’s ring. (AML, pg. 142)

20.  Then, taking a handful of sand, she began to
rub the lamp with it. However, all of a
sudden, a gigantic jinnee appeared, and he
was just as horrifying as he was huge. (AML,
pg. 144)
 Now the cemetery was haunted day and
night by jinnees who were true believers, and
soon a jinniyah came out and saw Hasan
asleep. (NDAHS, pg. 278)

21.  … and from his childhood on, he had been
addicted to witchcraft and had studied and
practiced every kind of occult science. Indeed,
the city of Tunis itself is notorious for this
unholy lore, and he continued to read and hear
lectures there until he became a master in all
kinds of sorcery and spells that he had acquired
after forty years of study. Then one day he
discovered through a satanic inspiration…
(AML, pg. 140-141)

22.  Soon the magician took out a small box from his
breast pocket, and after opening it, he took some
incense, set fire to the wood, and sprinkled the
incense on the fire. Then he conjured and
uttered some strange words, and the sky
darkened. Suddenly there was a burst of
thunder, and the ground split open. (AML, pg.
136)
 … the villain had a brother even more vile than he
was and even more adept in necromancy,
geomancy, and astrology. (AML, pg. 202)

24.  King Shahryar and his brother believe in
God, but submitted to sin in fear of the
jinnee:
 Given fear of the jinnee, they finally did what
she asked them to do, one after the other, …
(KSHB, pg. 11)

25.  Aladdin believed in God, but depended too greatly
on the power of jinns to survive and obtain
greatness:
• Food
• Money
• Marriage to the princess
• Wedding gifts
• Politic/public charms
• Defense

26.  As Aladdin sat on the stairs in utter misery and
wept about his predicament, he began rubbing his
hands together, as people who are in trouble
generally do, and he raised them in prayer to Allah
and begged for mercy. While he was thus imploring
the Lord and chafing his hands, his fingers chanced
to rub the ring that the sorcerer had given to him for
his protection. All at once, there was some and an
enormous jinnee appeared before him… In fact, he
was overjoyed and cried out boldly, “Slave of the
ring, I want you to carry me to the face of the earth.
(AML, pg. 142)

27.  “… Moreover, it is unlawful to have relations with
them. Remember that the Prophet warned us
against them, and may Allah bless and preserve
him!”
 It is now the means of our livelihood and will make
us rich. The same is true about the ring, which I shall
never withdraw from my finger, since without it I
would not be with you here today. … and who
knows what troubles and predicaments I may have
in the future? I may need this ring to save my life
again… (AML, pg. 146)

28. Thank you for paying attention!