Stories (الحكايات) form a very important part of all cultures, and storytelling (السرد) is one of the oldest arts known to human beings. Storytelling is an integral part of Arabic popular culture (الثقافة الشعبية). In all parts of the Arab world, storytelling has been a very popular and much-appreciated form of entertainment for the general public, especially lay people.

The traditional storyteller has different names in different countries and has distinctive styles of presenting his stories. In Syria, he is called (الحَكَواتي), and he presents his stories in cafés where he sits on a high seat and tells his stories to his audiences. In Egypt, he is called (الرَّاوي), and he tells his stories with traditional music. In Libya, the storyteller (الرَّاوي) stands on a stage while telling his story which is usually in poetry. In Morocco, storytellers stand in the middle of a circle of audiences and act the stories as they tell them. Some storytellers use old books to read sections of their stories, but the great majority tell their stories orally.

Stories can be long or short, but they usually extend over many nights. They deal with the stories of famous popular heroes who played important historical roles in supporting kings or clans, resisting occupation, or helping the weak and poor against aggressors. All heroes of stories are strong, brave, loyal and true, and they all face betrayal and blots against them. The story teller interrupts his story at a very critical point every night and leaves his audiences anxious about the rest of the story until the following night.

In rural communities, these stories provide a good opportunity for people to talk and speculate about how the story would progress. Only the storyteller knows, or he may not know because a lot of the stories are made up at the time of telling!