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Ibne Safi and his works
Ibne safi
Ibn-e-Safi (also spelled as Ibne Safi) (Urdu: ) was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from India and Pakistan. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous.[1] He wrote from the 1940s in India, and later Pakistan after the partition of British India in 1947. His main works were the 125-book series Jasoosi Dunya (The Spy World) and the 120-book Imran Series, with a small canon of satirical works and poetry. His novels were characterized by a blend of mystery, adventure, suspense, violence, romance and comedy, achieving massive popularity across a broad readership in South Asia.
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Biography Ibne Safi was born on July 26, 1928 in the town 'Nara' of district Allahabad, India. His father's name was Safiullah and mother's name was Naziran Bibi. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Aligarh Muslim University. In 1948, he started his first job at 'Nikhat Publications' as an Editor in the poetry department. His initial works date back to the early 1940s, when he wrote from India. After the partition of Indian and Pakistan in 1947, he began writing novels in the early 1950s while working as a secondary school teacher and continuing part-time studies. After completing the latter, having attracted official attention as being subversive in the independence and postindependence period, he migrated to Karachi, Pakistan in August 1952. He started his own company by the name 'Israr Publications' . He married to Ume Salma Khatoon in 1953. Between 1960 - 1963 he suffered an episode of severe depression, but recovered, and returned with a best-selling Imran Series novel, Dairrh Matwaalay (One and a half amused). In fact, he wrote 36 novels of 'Jasoosi Duniya' and 79 novels of 'Imran Series' after his recovery from depression. In the 1970s, he informally advised the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan on methods of detection. He died of pancreatic cancer on July 26, 1980 in Karachi, which was coincidentally his 52nd birthday. He is survived by his son Omar Al-boukharey. He was born on 26th April in the year 1928 and he left this world on 26th July in the year 1980. His name is not a name of a person due to his works and his achievements so he can be described as a period. His writings are not only alive but due to its fragrance and smell it was achieved with great position and status in the Urdu literature throughout the world. He belongs to detective novel writers of the 20th century. His real name was Asrarul Ahmed and he was born in Narva village in U.P. In India and his father's name was Safi Allah. He studied in the Aligarh Muslim university and he was obtained B.A. Degree from there. After
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him he left him a good stock of detective novels behind him. He also wrote some articles with the following names. 1. Tagril. 2. Farqan. 3. Asrar Narvi. Works. Ibne Safi's prose work can be classified into two categories:
Mystery novels Short stories and articles of humour and mockery
Ibn-e-Safi started writing poetry in his childhood and soon earned critical acclaim in the whole South-Asian community. After completing his Bachelor of Arts, he started writing short stories, humour and satire under various names such as "Siniki (Cynic) Soldier" and "Tughral Farghan." In the Nakhat magazines, he published several satirical articles which commented on various topics ranging from politics to literature to journalism. His early works in the 1940s included short stories, humour and satire. According to one of his autobiographical essays, someone in a literary meeting claimed that Urdu literature had little scope for anything but sexual themes. To challenge this notion, Ibn-e-Safi began writing detective stories in January 1952 in the monthly Nikhat, naming the series Jasoosi Dunya. In 1955, Ibn-e-Safi started the Imran Series, which gained as much fame and success as Jasoosi Dunya. Ibne Safi's novels – characterized by a blend of adventure, suspense, violence, romance and comedy – achieved massive popularity by a broad readership. So strong was the Ibne Safi's impact of the Urdu literary scene that his novels were translated into several regional languages. It was not unusual for Safi's books to be sold at black market prices in Pakistan and India, where they were originally published every month.
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The settings in Ibne Safi's novels are such that the reader is never told the national origin of the heroes. Since ‘Jasoosi Duniya’ was created before the partition of the subcontinent, the names of the characters and their locales suggest that the novel takes place in India. The advent of the Imran Series came post-independence, and the reader is set up to assume that the narrative is situated in Pakistan. Besides their native countries, the main characters of both ‘Jasoosi Duniya’ and Imran Series have had adventures around the world – Spain, Italy, England, Scotland, Pacific Islands, Zanzibar, South Africa, the United States of America, and various other places. Considering that Ibne Safi never left the Indian Subcontinent, the detailed descriptions he provides of the diverse localities are surprisingly accurate. Many a times, Ibne Safi created fictitious settings for his stories. The magical web of his writing is so captivating that these fantasy lands have become reality in the minds of readers. Avid fans of the author are experts on the people and cultures of Shakraal, Karaghaal, Maqlaaq, Zeroland, and many other imaginary domains. In cities around India and Pakistan, one can find discothèques, bars, night clubs, and hotels named after venues found in Ibne Safi's novels. Some places worth mentioning are: Dilkusha, Fizaro, Niagara, Tip Top, High Circle, etc. Besides humour and satire he also wrote some short adventures, namely Baldraan Ki Malika (The Queen of Baldraan), Ab Tak Thee Kahaan? (Where had you been?), Shimal Ka Fitna (The Trouble from North), Gultarang, and Moaziz Khopri. In these adventures, Ibne Safi takes the reader to various fictitious, exotic lands of his own imagination. Ibne Safi also directed a film 'Dhamaka' based on his novel 'Bebakon Ki Talash'. The film did not get the publicity and fame which it deserved, and remains mostly forgotten. In 1959, Ibne Safi started writing Aadmi Ki Jarain, a book based on human psychology. However, it remained incomplete due to his illness.
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In translation The first English translations of Ibne Safi's mystery novels began appearing in 2010, with The House of Fear from the Imraan Series, translated by Bilal Tanweer and published by Random House India.In 2011, Blaft Publications in association with Tranquebar released four more novels, this time from the Jasusi Duniya series, translated by the highly acclaimed Urdu critic Shamsur Rahman Faruqi.
List of his non-series work
Aadmi ki Jarain (Urdu for The Roots of The Man) - Incomplete baldaraan ki malikaa (Urdu for The Queen of Baldaraan) Ab tak thee kahaan (Urdu for Where Had You Been?) Diplomat murgh (Urdu for The Diplomat Rooster) saarhe paanch baje (Urdu for Half Past Five) tuzke do-piazi (Urdu for The autobiography of Do-Piaza) Incomplete shumaal ka fitna (Urdu for The Trouble From North) mata-e Qalb-O-Nazar - Collection of Poetry (to be published)
Quotes from Ibn-e-Safi's books In Urdu script: Translation: Why should man ever become serious when he knows full well that one day he will be buried along with his seriousness? (Black Picture) In Urdu script: Translation: Life is only action and reaction. The rationalizations are added later. (AdLava)
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In Urdu script: Translation: Regretting stupidity is the biggest stupidity of them all. In English (translated from Urdu By Dr. Ahmad Safi, son of Ibne Safi): Why is it that an ordinary clerk has to pass the examination for clerkship, a police constable has to go through training as a recruit before he could be commissioned and on the other hand vegetableselling middlemen, good-for-nothing feudals and imbecile merchants go sit in the Assemblies directly and start legislating and some even become members of the cabinet (Jungle Ki Sheriyat. In Urdu script: -Imran Series:102) In English (translated from Urdu By Dr. Ahmad Safi, son of Ibne Safi): I know that crimes committed by governments are not called crimes but diplomacy. A crime is only that which is committed in an individual capacity. (Jonk Ki Wapsi. In Urdu scrip Imran Series) In English (translated from Urdu By Dr. Ahmad Safi, son of Ibne Safi): Nuclear and Hydrogen Bomb experiments were beyond their comprehension. They could not figure out why a person is incarcerated in a mental asylum when he turns mad and why when a nation turns mad, we start calling it a Power (Anokhay Raqas. In Urdu script: Jasoosi Dunya:65) Poetry (Note: Most of the English translations of Urdu poetry and titles are literal and do not capture the true essence of the language. Some meaning is definitely lost in translation.) Ibn-e-Safi was also a poet. He used to write poems under the pen name of "Asrar Narvi". He wrote in various genres of Urdu poetry, such as Hamd, Naat, Manqabat, Marsia, Ghazal, and Nazm. His collection of poetry, Mata-e Qalb-o-Nazar (Urdu for The Assest of Heart & Sight), remains unpublished.
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Following is the list of his Ghazals:
Daulat-e-Gham (Urdu for The wealth of sorrow) Zahan se Dil ka Bar Utra Hai (Urdu for Heaviness of the heart is unloaded by the mind) Chhalakti away (Urdu for [The liquor] show up overflowing) Kuch to ta-alluq ... (Urdu for Some affiliation ...) Aaj ki raat (Urdu for Tonight) Baday ghazab ka ... (Urdu for Of much might ...) Yun hi wabastagi (Urdu for Casual connection) Lab-o-rukhsar-o-jabeen (Urdu for Lips and Cheeks and forehead) Rah-e-talab mein kaun kisi ka (Urdu for In the path of demands, no one recognizes anyone) Kuch bhi to apne paas nahin ... (Urdu for Do not have anything ...) Aay nigaraan-e-khoobroo (Urdu for O gorgeous sculptures) Kabhi sawab ki hain ... (Urdu for Sometimes, of virtuousness ...) Kabhi qatil ... (Urdu for Sometimes killer ...) Qafas ki daastaan hai ... (Urdu for It is the tale of imprisonment ...) Maan (Urdu for Mother) Shakist-e-talism (Urdu for Defeat of the magic) Talism-e-josh-Aruba (Urdu for The breathtaking magic) Tanhayee (Urdu for Solitude) Bansuri ki awaaz (Urdu for The sound of flute)
Death Ibne Safi died at the midnight of July 25, 1980 at 5.00 AM. He was buried in the Paposhnagar graveyard on July 26, 1980. The body was laid in the grave by Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi (ex treasurer and joint secretary of All Pakistan Newspaper Society). The funeral was attended by a large number of citizens, admirers, journalists etc. The details of his last moments are mentioned in an article named board in Safi. He did not follow any style of the other writers, but he tried his own smooth style in Urdu literature. He was perfect in developing characters
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and scenes in the books. There was a tremendous attraction in his characters and for this reason these characters will be always remembered in the minds of the book readers of Ibne Safi. Great writers like Ibne Safi are very rare in the Urdu literature. Great detective books of Terath Ram Ferozipuri were available during his period which were translated from English books. Ibne Safi was also translated seven books and but his other books have been written by him on his own plots of stories and many of his books are famous and very popular among its readers. One of his famous book in Urdu and Hindi is ‘Dedh Mutwale’ which was written by him upon his recovery from his serious illness for a period of three long years and the above book was released in the year 1963 and in the month of October by the late Prime Minister of India Mr. Lall Bahadur Shastri and as this was special publication so there was a great demand and popularity of the above book and so many editions were reprinted and in this book Ibne Safi’s famous character Petlonerva who was known as Kubda was killed by himself by swallowing a poison pill upon his arrest by Imran’s detective force. The popularity of the books is understood from the fact that many thousand people used to visit the book stalls for waiting new books of Ibne Safi before its publication in the market. Altogether Ibne Safi was written 125 detective novels under Faridi series and 120 detective novels under Imran series. The main characters of books are as follows. 1. Colonel Faridi. 2. Sargent Hameed. 3. Imran. 4. Anwar. 5.Raheeda. 6. Uncle Sung. 7. Ghazala. 8. Asif 9. Captain Fayayaz. 10. Jospech. In his all books he has shown the upper hand of the law and order and discouraged the crime and criminals. In his books in the stories and
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in the events the readers will find funny phrases in many places in his writings. In his one book one funny matter was reported which is as follows. In his novel there is one character with name of Qaism who is a member of a wealthy industrial family and who is very fat and healthy too much and he is very un-wise and dull. Once he was playing cricket in his compound of the bungalow with his servant. The servant was bowling and Qasim was on the batting pitch. On one ball Qasim cut a powerful shot and the ball went out of the building so the servant went outside to collect the ball and during this time Qasim has completed 100 runs by running in between batting and bowling pitch as there was too much delay to search and to find the missing ball in the outside area. There is description of interesting conversation between Qasim and Hameed is recorded in the books in the very funny style by Ibne Safi. Colonel Faridi and Sargent Hamid are important characters of the novels of Ibne Safi. Colonel Faridi and Sargent Hameed’s relation details are available in the books in their interesting conversation between themselves. The Colonel Faridi acts as a sincere elder brother of Sargent Hameed and Hameed’s behaviour with him as naughty and mischievous younger brother. In Imran series Imran acts as a chief detective boss of the team. He was the son of the Director General Rahman and he is very intelligent and wise and very fast in his movements and activities and he is perfect in all knowledges and tehnical information as he was completed his study of doctorate in the science of criminology in London but by his outlook appearance he is not looked what actually he is and so for this reason the people who see him and upon watching his activity think him unwise and un-important person and due to such situation he will use to complete many hard tasks and many detective cases for which his father Director General Rahman and Captain Faiyaz were helpless to solve
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such criminal cases without the help from Imran. Imran works an an independent boss of the his secret intelligence team under the supervision of Foreign Secretary Sir Sultan with some special powers and authority and in his team nobody know that he is the boss of the team and as all other team members and his lady secretary Julia think him as a team member only. In Imran series his secretary Julia and other female characters not only love him very much but he never considered all such emotions due to his nature and as well as his hard task of the professional work. The speciality of books of Ibne Safi is as follows. 1. Style of the description. 2. Best scenery of the events. 3. Special characters and their roles. For the above reasons these things will remain in the reader's mind with them for forever and never remove from there. When Ali Abbas Hussaini was started the publication of the monthly magazine of ‘Nikhat’ and ‘Jasosi Duniya’ from Allahabad and in these magazines Ibne Safi was contributed his novels and he was became one of the popular writers of this publication group and Ibne Safi was presented this group many of his memorable books of science and fiction with real facts and figures. Ibne Safi is well known for his contribution of scientific fiction works in the Urdu novel and attaching the detective methods in the world of crimes inquiry and represented the real facts and for this reason his detective novels were becoming popular in the Urdu literature. His study was not only deep, but his observation was also very deep in level and best and he was an expert in the following branches of Urdu literature and language.
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1.Poetry. 2. Literature. 3. History. 4. Psychology. 5. Sex 6. Science and fiction. 7. Terrorism.8. Superstition. His knowledge can be studied in his every phrase and in every sentence in his books. In his writings there is so much smoothness and clarity of the subject matter and for this reason the reader will find greater interest in it so if the reader will read any sentence or book for thousand times then also it will be observed by him as new sentence or new book and the reader will be lost in it due to the subject matter’s description and narration style of the story matter. The aim of his all books is the control of the law and order over the crime and gangsters in the community. Actually the central idea of all his books is crimes of the earth. The open eye keeping person on the earth can know well and will accept this fact that the earth is now full of crimes and there are many kinds of crimes are there so it is not easy to count all of them. It seems that there is full control of the crimes on the mankind and its society and its endless progress is damaging the society completely. Ibne Safi was a man of sensitive nature and he was hated the crimes and he was a deep love of the mankind. He was used to like some time some psychological criminals who due to injustice and problems for them in the society and for this reason they have adopted the criminal life. Being a great humanitarian he was much interested to clear the society from the criminal people. He disliked all forms of crimes and such movements. For this reason at the end of his every book the reader will find the control of the law over the criminal people. He thinks crime as crime and whatever the reason may be there and there is no compromise with him in this matter.
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Ibne Safi was great writers of the twentieth century who has observed the problems and crimes as well as the destruction of the second world war. He was not only an expert on the psychological matters but he was a social scientist. His observation was very deep and he was champion of the comparative study of the problems. He had great psychological knowledge of human beings and its society and for this reason in his writings there is a clear picture of psychological problems of the society which were coming into existence in the shape of different isms and the development of modern science which also played a major role to many crimes in the society. So for this reason Ibne Safi thinks that due to the presence of different isms which are the reasons of physiological problems of the modern society. The modern society has put heavy curtains between a man and his creator so the man began thinking to himself that he is the creator of his inventions and for this reason instead of thinking himself as the representative of the real power, he has become himself as the centre of the power in the world. Ibne Safi used to think literature as a powerful medium to clear the society from all sorts of problems and crimes so he had laid the foundation of this kind of fair detective literature in Urdu in which he has presented detective novels with powerful stories in which he has described the modern time criminal stories and without such literature it was not possible to solve the crime problems of the modern time. There was a good picture of the community which was under difficult position due to the result of the industrial revolution and scientific progress and technology. For the above reason, there was a problem on the face of the man and each and every body was suffering due to the smoke of chimneys of the factories and industrial homes. There were new methods of crimes and injustice was developing in the society in the world. So the literature should not require the stories of the fairy lands at that time but to build the foundation of literature with the
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clearest picture of the society was required in the criminal background so for this reason the stories in his books will represent the above details and information. As Ibne Safi is not the name of a person but he is the name of a period. Due to his attractive and interesting style of writing his detective books many people were starting reading the detective literature created by Ibne Safi at that time and actually such people who were not interested even to see the books. It is a great work of Ibne Safi on the literature of the Urdu world. Ibne Safi worked hard for the art of creating characters and art of description of scenery and these two arts were much developed by Ibne Safi. In his books each and every character will left permanent impressions on the reader's mind and the readers will feel such characters are live and found in their lives around them. In the same way sequences of scenes are in perfect balance in the story background and due to this reason the readers will get lost in the events of the story as well as in the background scenes of the situation. So for the reason the scene of the event will come before the eyes of the readers like flash system. The control of the law and order over the criminals is the aim of his novels. He will also discuss the subject matters in the books that in the community there is an available angel type as well as the Satan types people together. For this reason the theory of good and bad deed is very old like the history of human beings and the Satan. In his books on the subject of crime and its punishment were also discussed thoroughly and in it the picture of the mind of conspirators are available clearly with the flavour of funny aspect as well great adventure and fiction events are mentioned in his books and these things will put positive and good results on the reader’s mind. His books are also real pictures of the international fraud and plots of the killing of the innocent community of the world by planting bombs and terror acts and other
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dangerous situations and pulling down the rulers and helping the revolution by party funding and imports of drugs and illegal human traffic. Due to the mastery in the character creation and the scene of the events so the Urdu detective literature will be always proud in this matter. A very important matter which is known in all over the world that his all books are free from any vulgar matters and events and scenes and dialogues as well as sex matters so for this reason all family members can read his books on the same table and can discuss freely because in his books the objectionable remarks and events are not available in them. Ibne Safi’s books are divided into two series which are as follows. 1.Faridi series 2. Imran series. Review some of the books of Faridi series are as follows. A. There are three famous books which are as follows ‘Faridi and Leonard’, ‘Lashun Ka Saudgar’ and ‘Tufan Ka Agva’. These books are complete with its stories and covered the details and events of international conspiracy and some other details. The first book ‘Faridi and Leonard’ is a great book of suspense in which the story of Leonard is added and who is an international blackmailer and the killer and who had done many crimes in the Europe and whoever will come under his grip Leonard will not leave him. But when he enters in India his all intelligence and criminal capacities are blocked and he will find himself in the cage like a helpless bird due to hard task and the endeavours of Colonel Faridi. ‘Lashun Ka Saudagar’ in this book all work of mastery is available and which is necessary for such a great book and this book is very famous
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because its story is very interesting with world of suspense and for this reason the reader’s heart beating will be effected upon reading the pages of the books. The book ‘Toofan Ka Agva’, is a great book which shows new directions and new heights because in it there is adventure, detective work, scientific fiction works are included along with suspense of the events of fiction are fast running and the readers will observe new world of action in it .In the character of Dr. Harmonious there is description of his personality is added in it and Neelam is Ibne Safi’s special psychological character for which the mind will start thinking about her and will not stop it and not able to decide whether to love her or hate her.One more character of Qasim who is a member of rich and wealthy community on him injustice was done and for this reason he is also responsible for doing injustice to others. In the detective series four books are famous and which are as follows. ‘Phala Shola’, ‘Dosura shola’, ‘Tesra Shola’, ‘Jahnam Ka Shola’. In these books the story is linked together and there is lots of suspense, sex, terrorism and drug mafia activities and such other events are available and which are born from the body of modern Pharoah which will show the crimes of modern times in the society. It is noted that the writer was writing these books by the end of the year in 1956 and in the story he was shown about many isms of the world which are available in the world at that time. His novel ‘Garvan Zeena’, which is a very strange story and its end is also strange and for this reason the readers will think that in the world nothing is not in strange than the man in the creations. So in the civilized nation the man is so secret in the world than other creations. The Satan who is an enemy of the man who deceived him by adopting many shapes
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and forms and was downgraded the man from the position of the humanitarian height but the man even could not able to understand the deeds and tactics of the Satan who is trying hard to throw the man in the bottom of the civilization and culture and so on this subject this novel is best in the Urdu literature. Ibne Safi is among such writers who is able to divert the waves of Urdu literature and he was most successful in this matter so for this reason nobody could not know that his position is equal with the writers of the Europe and America and also in some other fields he was far away from them. Regarding his novel ‘Sholan Ka Nach’ Ibne Safi has given the following message upon the publication of the above novel to the readers which is as follows. ‘’ Till now I have written 50 novels and a writer’s greatest asset is his writings. So I will present my asset in its best form and condition. For this reason my novel ‘Sholan Ka Nach’ is my life's best achievement and the best novel so I think I could not present no other better book than this novel.” This is a small paper in which there is a brief biography of Ibne Safi is added and in this paper there are some great achievements of this great writer of sub-continent which are not yet known to the general persons and other persons are mentioned in a very interesting style so for this reason the readers will find great interest and attention in this matter. From the above facts and details, if the readers will starts reading this paper and will not stop its reading till they will reach its last page as in this research paper some interesting events and as well as other great and endeavours of this writer are added and this great Urdu writer who was passed away from the world some 33 years ago.
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Even though this is a small paper but due to its importance it is so great due to coverage of many interesting events and positive information in it so it is like an important paper of the information about this great Urdu fiction writer and who was passed away from the world upon doing his great endeavours and many hard tasks for the presenting great detective Urdu novels in the world. So this paper is a small one but it will present great knowledge and information for the guidance of readers towards reading the great books of detective novels in Urdu. To write about this great fiction writer is not only it is difficult and but it is very hard task as he was not only a great writer of his time in the subcontinent but he was also a great humanitarian in the subcontinent who struggled hard for the preaching and propagation of moral values through his books of fiction 33 years ago so in brief he was great writer of his time in the subcontinent and who did many great endeavours for the preaching and propagation of moral values in India and around it and there was no such personality during his time. His books are great remedy and cure of the tired persons and they can become fresh again by reading his books of great adventure and suspense . So it is not wrong to say that his books are heaven for the tired persons. The modern man is now a days in pressure of personal and other problems so if he will refer his books then I hope that his mental pressure will be down and he will be fresh again upon reading the adventurous books of great value to face the challenges of life and work. --------------------------------------------Mohammed Abdul Hafeez, B.Com. Translator ‘ Muslim Saints and Mystics’ (The Tadhkirah al-Awliya of Farid al-Din Attar) Email :
[email protected] ===================================================
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