Ibn-e-Safi

Ibn-e-Safi (26 July 1928 – 26 July 1980) (also spelled as Ibne Safi) was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad, a fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from Pakistan.

The word Ibn-e-Safi is a Persian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous.

Asrar Ahmad was born on 26 July 1928 in the town 'Nara' of district Allahabad, India.

His father's name was Safiullah and mother's name was Naziran Bibi.

His ancestors were Hindus of the Kayashta community, specialised in the fields of education and administration, who converted to Islam many generations ago.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Agra University.

He first wrote from the British India of the 1940s, and later Pakistan after the independence 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 characterised by a blend of mystery, adventure, suspense, violence, romance and comedy, achieving massive popularity across a broad readership in South Asia.

His initial works date back to the early 1940s, when he wrote from British India.

He also studied at the University of Allahabad where he was class fellow of Professor Mohammad Uzair and one year senior to Mustafa Zaidi.

His early works in the 1940s included short stories, humour and satire.

According to one of his autobiographical essays, someone at a literary meeting claimed that Urdu literature had little scope beyond sexual themes.

After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, he began writing novels in the early 1950s while working as a secondary school teacher and continuing part-time studies.

In 1948, he started his first job at 'Nikhat Publications' as an editor in the poetry department.

After completing the latter, having attracted official attention as being subversive in the independence and post-independence period, he migrated to Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan in August 1952.

He started his own company by the name 'Asrar Publications'.

To challenge this notion, Ibn-e-Safi began writing several detective stories in January 1952.

These were published in the monthly digest, Nikhat, under the series name Jasoosi Dunya.

He married Umme Salma Khatoon in 1953.

In 1953, Ibn-e-Safi, along with his mother and sister, moved to Karachi, Pakistan, joining his father who had migrated there earlier in 1947.

In 1955, Ibn-e-Safi started the Imran Series, which gained as much fame and success as Jasoosi Dunya.

Ibne Safi's novels – characterised by a blend of adventure, suspense, violence, romance, and comedy – achieved massive popularity by a broad readership.

Ibne Safi is the best writer of Imran Series and Jasoosi Dunya and creator of both the series.

Many a time, Ibne Safi created fictitious settings for his stories.

The magical web of his writing is so captivating that these fantasy lands have become real 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, nightclubs, and hotels named after venues found in Ibne Safi's novels.

Some places worth mentioning are Dilkusha, Figaro, Niagara, Tip Top, High Circle.

Besides humor and satire, he also wrote some short adventures, namely Baldraan Ki Malika (The Queen of Baldraan), Ab Tak Thee Kahaan? (Where had you been?), Shumal 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.

In 1959, Ibne Safi started writing Aadmi Ki Jarain, a book based on human psychology.

In the period from 1960 to 1963, he suffered an episode of severe depression and spent some time in the psychiatry ward of a hospital, but recovered, and returned with a best-selling Imran Series novel, Dairrh Matwaalay (One and a half amused) which was published in India by the to-be -Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

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.

Ibne Safi died on 26 July 1980 of pancreatic cancer at age 52.

He was buried in Paposhnagar graveyard in Karachi.

Ibn-e-Safi started writing poetry in his childhood and soon earned critical acclaim in 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.