AL HOFUF, Saudi Arabia – Inside what natives refer to as The Kingdom, two hours by taxi from the eastern border of Qatar, there’s a place not far from the World Cup that can also seem like it’s located a world away. Visitors will find a city of 150,000; an agricultural center that claims status as the date capital of the globe; and ancient souks, or bazaars, that peddle everything from spices to gold to handwoven textiles.
According to local legend, Al Hofuf is also the burial place of two fictional lovers, Layla and Majnun. Their love story was created as a poem and is the Arab world’s version of Romeo and Juliet. In it, Majnun is deemed too obsessive, Layla is married to someone else and Majnun becomes a hermit who spends every day writing poetry professing his adoration for Layla. Alas, they die before they can marry or even rekindle their romance.
The city and the story tie in perfect and random ways on Wednesday, starting with a Layla-Majnun drawing printed on a poster that someone slapped on a beige, brick building in downtown. Someone else stuck a World Cup sticker on the poster, covering Majnun’s face. And, in the dirt nearby, someone else planted the national flag.
