The collection of Arabian Nights Stories is the most famous literary product of a classical Islamic Civilization that was formed through a merging of Arabic culture (especially religion) and the great imperial traditions of the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian empire of the Sassanians. Ironically, the work was not widely accepted as serious literature by the intellectual and literary elite of the Islamic world. This rejection reflects the Koran's condemnation of fictional narratives as lying. Most traditional Arabic narrative was didactic or religious - history, useful knowledge moral instruction.

Imagination and fantasy were more commonly expressed in poetry which had a tradition in Arabic life pre-dating Islam and was not constrained by religious concerns.

The stories in the Arabian Nights include forty different tales which are set in the time of Arabian rule. These moralistic stories shed light on Islamic beliefs. These stories were used as a moral compass for followers of the Islamic faith, and many followers were guided by the principles set forth in this collection of stories.