GULZAR-e-IBRAHEEM of HASAN

Gulzar-e-Ibraheem of Maulvi Hasan belongs to the genre known in Persian literary tradition as Masnavi almost certainly inspired by Rumi. Masnavis are romantic stories composed in rhyming couplets of exquisite elegance. They are open tributes to God espousing devotion as the highest human virtue. They are also allegories that can be read straight as a mundane love story with the usual ingredients of twists and turns and suspense and even magic or as an exposition of Sufi spirituality and its philosophy of love for God. Masnavis resorted to the subterfuge of a passionate love story only to allure the readers who might miss an otherwise unappealing message. Whether to reveal the real meaning or not is the author’s choice. By the time the readers finish the story they would already have swallowed the unsavory pill.