The King Of Urdu Detective Fiction: Ibne Safi

"I know that crimes committed by government are not called crimes but diplomacy. A crime is only that which is committed in an individual capacity."

The above statement was made by Ibne safi in one of his Imran series.

It is only Ibne safi who had a courage to comment on the crimes done by government in the name of diplomacy. Ibne safi is not a name of a person but a name of era, an era when global crimes were disclosed, writer stands against the dual faced society and the comments were made on super powers who shows as if they are working for the welfare of poor countries (rest is what we all knows better).

Ibne safi was a pen name of Asrar Ahmed, a best selling fiction writer, novelist and a poet of all times from Pakistan. He was born on 26 July 1928 in Allahabad, India and later moved to Pakistan at the time of partition.

Ibne safi's main genre were mystery, crime, spy and adventure. He wrote 120 jasoosi dunia (The spy world) and the same number of Imran series, mocking at the government and society with his satires and humour. His novels are the amalgamation of mystery, crime, action, suspense and comedy.

A person once claimed, according to ibne safi himself, that Urdu literature had little scope for anything but sexual theme. To challenge this odd, Ibne safi began writing detective stories naming it Jasoosi dunia and became the best selling writer of all times, achieving popularity among readers in all Urdu-reading states (namely south Asia).

After Jasoosi dunia, he started writing Imran series which gained the same amount of popularity as Jasoosi dunia did. Both the series are characterized as a mixture of adventure, suspense, action and mystery with a light dropping of romance. His novels gainedso much popularity that they were translated into several regional languages including English. Because of the huge fan following his novels were sold at black from the fake publishing house with the name of ibne safi!

The setting of ibne safi's novels are so strong and complete in them that reader can never guess the national origin of his heroes although they have had adventures all across the globe including Spain, Italy, England, Scotland, south Africa, USA and many other countries. The crime most of the Timestook place in their country disclosing the illegality of other nations, bounding his characters to solve them.

It is said that ibne safi had never left his native place but the information he provides in his novels are accurate enough to believe. The languages he mentioned, the places he writes about and the culture he cited were credible. It is something extraordinary that a person who had never travelled can quote such exact facts about other cultures and societies. The stories of ibne safi have fictitious setting which bounds readers to create the fantasy as if they are real. The fantasy land namely shakraal, Karaghaal, zeroland etc were totally the creation of that magnificent writer. He had created the world of imagination which rran through the reader's mind and make them roam in the imaginary world as long as they are reading the novel. He takes his readers to various exotic worlds which were totally the result of his own artistry.

To be cont....