Ibne Safi was the successful
pioneer of the mystery genre in Urdu literature. He was an immensely
well-read man. His thorough study of English, Urdu and World literature
in general, enabled him to create his own unique style of captivating
story-telling. It blended mystery with quality humor, espionage, law
enforcement, credible science fiction, thrilling adventure and fabulous
drama. His creative mind imagined and foresaw scientific and
technological inventions like robot, laser beam, cloning etc. He then
convincingly merged these inventions into his plots with an unequaled
skill at fiction-writing. His understanding of the human nature gave his
characters a living, breathing existence of its own kind. Some of his
characters shyly displayed their weaknesses and flaunted their
strengths, whereas others worked hard to unsuccessfully conceal them.
That was the master craftsman, Ibne Safi.
Ibne Safi was born on July 26,
1928, in the village of Nara in Allahabad District, U. P., India. Ibne
Safi’s forefathers came from the village of Nara. Ibne Safi obtained his
primary schooling in the village school at Nara.
When Ibne Safi was only eight
years old, he got an opportunity to read first volume of ‘Talism-e-Hoshruba.’
Although he could not understand the language entirely, the story made a
great impact on his creative mind. Ibne Safi then read all seven volumes
several times.
Ibne Safi started writing at a
young age. When Ibne Safi was in seventh grade, his first story appeared
in the weekly ‘Shahid’, which was edited by Aadil Rasheed. Ibne Safi
also started writing poetry when he was in eighth class. Ibne Safi was
so impressed by the famous poet Jigar Murad Aabadi that his earlier
poetry was on “Khumriat” (poetry about the use and affects of alcohol).
According to his son Ahmad Safi,
at the time Ibne Safi decided to write spy mystery stories, this genre
was being tried out already. The difference was that it was mostly
translations from the English stories that were being imported from
England and the USA. Problem was that these stories depended mostly on
the element of sex and erotica for success in sales. This is why the
mystery literature and spy stories were not rated, in general, as good
literature at that time. When in a gathering of fellow writers it was
being discussed that mystery stories could not sell without the
mentioned elements, Asrar Narvi (later Ibne Safi) took the challenge. He
decided to create such stories that the suspense and the narrative in
those would capture the audience and would keep them glued to the book
till the end. He was by and large successful. The first novel “Dilaer
Mujrim” (an adaptation of Victor Gunn’s “Ironside’s Lone Hand”,) had to
go through many editions as A.H. Wheeler and Company, the distributors,
kept coming back for more.
Answering to a question about
the diversity of the characters build by Ibne Safi, Ahmad Safi answered:
“Everyone can create main characters to be remembered all the times.
Heroes to be worshiped… but it takes real art to create antagonists that
you always remember. His villains include mad scientists, power hungry
fishermen, expansionist hi-tech men and women who would like to rule the
world, psychos with closets full of hidden baggage etc etc. His main
characters or protagonists all staying in the limits of bashfulness,
always preaching the supremacy of law and patriotism. One thing to be
noticed is that none of his novels ever lets the bad guy have the upper
hand. He also makes sure to teach us the remedies for frustration and
despair. Unfortunately we rarely come across characters in real life
with the qualities that he embodied in his protagonists. However we do
come across bad guys on a daily basis who seem to have all the bad
characteristics mentioned for the antagonists of his novels. Thanks God
we are able to recognize those real life characters and identify them
positively because he painted such life sized images that we can never
be deceived as readers of Imran Series and Jasoosi Duniya.”
Ahmad further added: “There are
so many things that need to be told to the people. Let me gain assert
some things, not as a Son but a reader. Ibne Safi is not just a mystery
writer but a reformer to those who have done in-depth studies on his
works. His simple stories need to be studied in the context of the times
when those were written and also in today’s context. Comparing the
results we may find out that his literature is as contemporary as ever.
Recently on Face Book a fan page was started for Ibne Safi. Surprisingly
of 800+ members the average age is about 20 years. This shows that the
generation that was born after his demise has taken to like his works
and they have gone to the extent as to put all the novels in PDF format
on the net. Although illegal, you have to admire the thirst of these fan
who would do anything to get the words spread. The Ibne Safi phenomenon
continues.”
Recent revivals include the
translation of two Imran Series Novels (Khaufnak Imarat and Chattanon
main fire) as “The house of Fear” published by Random House. This book
has stayed in Top Ten list for sales by the distributor chain (Liberty
Books) since it went on sales two weeks ago. July 4 Weekend it was the
6th Top Selling Book beating Jeffery Archer’s novel. July 11 week it
rises to the 4th position now beating Stpehen King, Stephanie Meyers and
Jeffery Archer. Way to go Pakistan! The phenomenon continues indeed as
Random House signs contract for the next two Imran Series novels.
In India the Hindi editions
have been published by HarperCollins. After 30 odd years the novels
broke the sales record in it’s category. 15 novels published in
quantities of 5000 each make a record for any literary book. In fact
literary books still do not go beyond 500 to a couple of thousand in
print (high literature indeed!) The first day they went on sale in a
book fair in New Delhi, by the end of the work day 50 complete sets of
novels were already sold.
It is often asked whether Ibne
Safi was inspired by Western literature or adopted any Western
characters into his novels. His major characters were a;; his original
creations, however, in the preface of Jasoosi Dunya’s platinum jubilee
number ‘Zameen Kay Baadal’, he mentioned those novels of ‘Jasoosi Dunya’
whose main plot were taken from Western literature and which included
‘Daler Mujrim’, ‘Purasraar Ajnabi’, ‘Raqqasah Ka Qatal’, ‘Heeray Ki Kaan’
and ‘Khooni Pathar’.
Furthermore, he also mentioned some characters, which were borrowed from
English fiction, such as Khaufnak Hangamah’s Professor Durrani and
Paharron Ki Malikah’s White Queen and Gorilla. He claimed that other
than those novels and characters, his stories were his own creation, and
even the mentioned novels had borrowed only ideas and were not
translations. Ahmed Safi told me that when his (Ahmed) elder brother Dr.
Isar Safi visited Italy, he was surprised to see Lake Como as it was so
truly depicted by Ibne Safi in one of his best serial of Imran series ‘Adlava’.
Considering that Ibne Safi never left the Indian Sub-continent, the
detailed descriptions he provides of the diverse localities are
surprisingly accurate. Interestingly, technologies which Ibne Safi
pointed out in his novels, were proved to be real with the passage of
time. For instance in his novel ‘Toofan Ka Aghwa’ in 1957, he has
created “Fauladmi” (a robot) who controlled traffic and performed some
social works eg settling minor scuffle between citizens etc and at that
time, concept of a robot was not known to the world. Likewise, he did
indicate the use of Laser beam and ‘Fai-graz’ (a type of advanced flying
saucer) etc.
It may be pertinent to mention
that in his novel ‘Jungle Ki Aag’ (Jasoosi Dunya-37), written in 60′s,
villain of the novel has created a machine in which at one end, two to
three crippled beggars were thrown inside for getting a healthy and
sturdy Gorilla from the other end. Isn’t it seems alike with today’s
concept of Cloning? Ibne Safi had a great ability to read and analyze
the values prevalent in society and momentum of changes being occurred.
One of Ibne Safi’s
distinguished writing qualities includes formation and development of
characters. He has established a range of diverse, colourful and
sentient characters that appear to be real. ‘Dhamaka’ was the only movie
written by Ibne Safi. The film was produced by Muhammad Hussain Talpur
based on the Imran Series novel ‘Baibaakon Ki Talaash’.
Actor Javaid Sheikh was
introduced for the first time as Zafarul Mulk, the main character.
Hussain Talpur, played Jameson and actress Shabnam played the role of
Sabiha. Imran and X-2′s team was not shown in the movie. It is
significant to mention that the voice of X-2 was recorded by Ibne Safi
himself. Actor Rehman played the role of a villain for the first time.
Actress Shaista Qaiser appeared
as a guest artist. The famous song by Habib Wali Mohammad Rah-e-talab
maen kaun kisee ka based on Ibne Safi’s ghazal which was picturised on
actor Rehman. The movie was released in December, 1974. However, it was
a flop. The question of Ibne Safi’s literary merit is still unsettled,
but it seems as if the tables have already started tilting in his favour.
Many literary personalities
generously admired Ibne Safi including Maulvi Abdil Haq (baba-e-urdu),
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commision’s Chairman I. H Usmani, Pir Ali
Muhammad Rashidi, Mir Ali Ahmed Talpur, Dr Abulkhair Kashfi, Professor
Majnoon Gorakhpuri, Professor Muhammad Hasan Askari, Khawaja Nazim Uddin
(Second Governor General of Pakistan), Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi (Former
Finance/Joint Secretary APNS), Miraj Rasool, Munir Hussain (Cricket
Commentator), Raees Amrohvi, John Alia, Shair Lakhnavi, Professor
Sarshar Siddiqui, Obaid Ullah Baig (Kasooti Fame), Writer/Dramatist
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi (Allan of Alif Noon), Daily Hurriyat’s Columist Nassar
Ullah Khan, Dr. Aslam Farrukhi, Amjad Islam Amjad, Qazi Akhtar Jonagari,
Indian poet Zubair Rizvi, Indian Poet/lyricist Javed Akhtar, the Sahitya
Academy president Dr Gopi Chand Narang etc.
An Ibne Safi fan by the name Badar Munir wrote in an essay on Ibne Safi
that he (Badar) used to recite the books of Ibne Safi to a 90 year old
lady who was very fond of Safi’s books. The lady was none other but the
mother of the founder of Bangladesh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman. Khawaja Nazimuddin,
Prime Minister of Pakistan once said for Ibne Safi: “I like Ibne Safi
since he indeed is a sincere, honest and down-to-earth writer”.
While commenting on Ibne Safi,
Maulvi Abdul Haq (Baba-e-Urdu) said: “Urdu literature owe a lot to Ibne
Safi for his great contribution for Urdu”. Someone asked from poet Rauf
Sheikh about the readership of Ibne Safi. Rauf said: “everybody reads
Ibne Safi’s books, however, no one have the courage to admit this”.
Finn Theissen, Professor Urdu
language and Literature, Oslo University, Norway commended Ibne Safi in
a letter to Writer/Journalist Mushtaq Qureshi. Finn wrote: “Ibne Safi
still has not achieved the position in Urdu Literature that he really
deserves. Or you can say that Urdu critics have not recognized his
importance. Perhaps we should not be too sad on this because after all
what could these critics do to harm Ibne Safi? Everyone knows Ibne Safi
and is fond of reading him. “On Page 113 of “Raa’ee Ka Parbat” Ibne Safi
himself says, ”Don’t worry about what people think of you, always keep
an eye on what you are!”
Dr Christina Ohesterheld, who
is the senior lecturer at Institute of South Asian Studies, Heidelberg,
Germany regretted in a seminar at Mumbai in 2007 that Ibne Safi’s
writing was not given enough attention in comparison to so-called
serious literature.
In the end, I would like to
again quote Ahmad Safi who is working with a group of researchers
exploring the message hidden in the writings of his great father in
context of today's political cum social scenario:
“We need to see what kind of
message is coming out of Ibne Safi’s works? It is a consistent message
of upholding the law and supremacy thereof, patriotism, fighting with
the despair, despondence and frustrations. He seems to be alerting us
from the black sheep in our midst who keep driving us to despondence. He
tells us that the uncertainty of future breeds crimes. He shows us that
the untrained uneducated representatives of a democratic government
would only cause harm to the country. Don’t we need someone today to
show us clearly what our problems are and not only that what could be
the possible remedies?”
