Better known in English as The Arabian Nights, this is probably the most well known Middle-eastern anthology. You can read an interesting essay about its history and place in medieval Arabic litearture here.
a collection of animal fables, these are thought to have originated in India. Sir Thomas North apparently did an English translation of these in the sixteenth century, so they are appropriate for late period English persona as well as any Middle-Eastern persona. This is probably another university library search although the link above takes you to Iran books where you can purchase a copy of the Esin Atil version. There is a pretty good version by Thomas Ballantine Irving that a university library is likely to have. At all costs avoid the Ramsey Wood translation which, although a more complete collection, makes the tales seem English (complete with terms like "chap"). If you can only find the Ramsey Wood translation, please remember that these are Indian/Persian/Turkish tales, and re-work them to reflect that.
This is a 10th Century Oghuz epic.
The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan
A translation of a sira, this is an easily readable, easily tellable epic adventure story. Readers familiar with Orlando will note that a similar inverse proprotion between strength and intelligence exists in the hero, here. The above link takes you to the Indiana Press catalog from which you can order the book or get bibliographic information for library searches.
This is the great collection of Persian king tatles by Ferdowsi. The Shahnameh was responsible for the revival of writing literature in Farsi rather than Arabic.
Sometimes referred to as the Persian "Romeo and Juliet," this is a tragic tale of love. The above link takes you to a quick overview of Layla wa Majnun's place in both oral and written tradition. Ganjavi Nizami's work is the most easily findable English translation, but if anyone knows an English translation of Jami's version, I'd love to read what he said.
Like Layla wa Majnun, this is part of Nizami's Khamseh. The Haft Paykar is another set of tales-within-tales, concerning love. The link takes you to an overview of the tales told (as well as overviews of many other Persian tales). Amazon does have a print version called The Haft Paykar : A Medieval Persian Romance (The World's Classics) by Nizami Ganjavi and translated by Julie Scott Meisami. The ISBN number is: 0192831844.Khosrow and ShirinThis link takes you to an excerpt of another story from Nizami's
There is an English translation of at least some parts of Nizami's Khamseh called Mirror of the invisible world : tales from the Khamseh of Nizami translated by Peter J Chelkowski. It's ISBN number is: 0870991426.
This work by Farid-Ud-Din Attar, a 12th Century Sufi mystic, is a collection of tales set around the frame of a king trying to lead his sons to awareness of higher truths than worldly goals. Each tale can be pretty easily told alone. The link to Iran Books Online lists a translation which is unpublished. An excerpt from the Ilahi-Nama can be found in The Hand of Poetry. A probably out-of-print translation, called The Ilahi-Nama or Book of God of Farid al-Din 'Attar by John Andrew Boyle was published by Manchester Press and is in my university library, so it may well-be obtainable by Interlibrary Loan.Another work by 'Attar, again consisting of tales-within-tales. It culminates in a splendid pun in Farsi which will not translate well, so is probably best told as stand-alone pieces. The link takes you to Astrolabe.
Tadhkirat Al-Auliya
'Attar's hagiography of the saints. This one is going to be the hardest to find. There is a book, presumably a translation, called Muslim Saints And Mystics. I couldn't find the author, but the ISBN number is 0140192646, so it may be trackable through ILL.
Tales of the Bani Hilal I wasn't able to find any online sources for the Bani Hilal, who were the heroes of Arabic epic traditions. Ten Thousand Desert Swords by Russell Davis and Brent Ashabranner appears to be an out-of-print version of the books. Check your libraries for it, however, as the tales are very tellable. UNC doesn't list the ISBN for some reason, but the OCLC number is: 01281581, in case that helps.