Imran Series
Encyclopedia
Imran Series is one of the best-selling Urdu spy
novels series created by Pakistani writer Ibn-e-Safi
. The first novel, Khaufnaak Imarat (The Terrifying Building), was published in October 1955. Early books in the series are complete novels. However, some stories span over two or more books.
, this series features Ali Imran
- a playful, yet deceiving personality. He is a bright young Oxford
graduate with M.Sc.
and Ph.D.
degrees in physics
(some novels say it was chemistry). His comical and apparently incompetent persona hides his identity as head of a secret service
. This series has been widely acclaimed for its high literary quality and strong character development.
Imran Series explains the workings of a country's Secret Service
that operates from the capital of the country (supposed by many to be Karachi
in Pakistan
which was the capital when initial Imran Series novels were written. Although Ibn-e-Safi
was careful to never explicitly state this, villains often refer to the country as the "one from South Asia
". The Secret Service is administered by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs
, Sir Sultan, who offers Imran the position as its head after getting personal help from him in "Raat ka Shahzadah" (The Prince of Night - #8).
distinguished writing qualities include formation and development of characters. He has established characters in such a fashion that they appear to be real and materialized.
Imran Series has a range of diverse, colourful, and sentient characters. Some of the members of secret service
include X2 (played by Ali Imran and Tahir aka BlackZero), Juliana Fitzwater, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf , Khawar, Chauhan, Nomani , Siddeeque, etc. Imran's family includes his father Karam-Rahman (also mentioned as Abdul Rahman in initial books), mother Amma Bi, and sister Surayya. Imran's escorts include driver/body-guard Joseph Mugunda from Central Africa, cook Sulaiman, and Sulaiman's wife Gul-Rukh.
Now-a-days in new books written by Mazhar Kaleem, names of characters are given below, namely:
Tahir/Black Zero, Ali Imran
M.Sc. and D.Sc. (oxen), Juliana Fitzwater (Julia), Sualeha, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf, Captin Shakeel, Siddeeque, Chauhan, Khawar, Nomani, Captin Babar (in some novels), Tiger (Rizwan), Joseph, Juana, Sulaiman, Sir Sultan etc.
For a detailed account of characters appearing in Imran Series, please visit more links at the bottom of this page.
It began with Khaufnak Imarat (The Fearful Building), and ended with Aakhri Aadmi (The Last Man), unfinished at the time of Ibn-e-Safi's
death.
was suffering from schizophrenia
, many amateur writers started posing themselves as Ibn-e-Safi and produced third class copies of his work, distorting the character of not only Ali Imran
, but also of Colonel Faridi
and Captain Hameed
. These acts of vandalism
were reported by Ibn-e-Safi
himself in the paish-rus (preface) of "Dairh Matwaalay" (One and a Half Amused - #42) (which was the novel he returned with after his recovery). Some writers and publishers still continue to write on Safi's characters, much to the annoyance of many fans. Safi used to mention fans' complaints sometimes in the prefaces, and mocked the fake publishers and writers in his own witty style.
Ibn-e-Safi's writing style can mostly be categorized under mystery fiction (with the exception of a few adventures). Mazhar Kaleem, however, does not rely on mystery but on action-oriented situational twists, with the overall plot of the story revealed in the first few chapters.
Ibn-e-Safi's Ali Imran, although highly intelligent, is not a super-human; Kaleem portrays him as a "man of all qualities" and "indestructible".
) include Mazhar Kaleem
, Safdar Shaheen
, Ibn-e-Rahat, Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi, H.Iqbal, Ayne Safi, MA Rahat, MA Sajid, Ibne Kaleem, Azhar Kaleem, M.A PeerzadaIbne Kaleem, S.Qureshi, N-Safi,Nasir Javed, Zaheer Ahmed, Irshad Alaser Jaferi, Syed Ali Hassan Gillani, Ali Nawazish. Mazhar Kaleem is still writing novels and enjoys enough fan-following. He has introduced many new characters in the series. Most fans of Ibn-e-Safi
, however, dismiss Kaleem's books, arguing that Kaleem distorted the original 'feel' of the series, and that he deformed the key characteristics of many characters, including Ali Imran. Nevertheless, his novels have a significant readership.
Spy fiction
Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War , when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century...
novels series created by Pakistani writer Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
. The first novel, Khaufnaak Imarat (The Terrifying Building), was published in October 1955. Early books in the series are complete novels. However, some stories span over two or more books.
Overview
Following the footsteps of the first best-selling series, Jasoosi DunyaJasoosi Dunya
Jasoosi Dunya is a best-selling series of Urdu spy novels written by Ibn-e-Safi. The first novel, Dilaer Mujrim was published in March, 1952. The central idea and theme of this novel was taken from Victor Gunn’s novel Ironside's Lone Hand...
, this series features Ali Imran
Ali Imran
Ali Imran is a fictional character in various Urdu language detective novels written by Asrar Ahmed under the pseudonym of Ibn-e-Safi. He serves as the titular protagonist in the Imran Series novels...
- a playful, yet deceiving personality. He is a bright young Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
graduate with M.Sc.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degrees in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
(some novels say it was chemistry). His comical and apparently incompetent persona hides his identity as head of a secret service
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
. This series has been widely acclaimed for its high literary quality and strong character development.
Imran Series explains the workings of a country's Secret Service
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
that operates from the capital of the country (supposed by many to be Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
which was the capital when initial Imran Series novels were written. Although Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
was careful to never explicitly state this, villains often refer to the country as the "one from South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
". The Secret Service is administered by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, Sir Sultan, who offers Imran the position as its head after getting personal help from him in "Raat ka Shahzadah" (The Prince of Night - #8).
Characters in Imran Series
One of Ibn-e-Safi'sIbn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
distinguished writing qualities include formation and development of characters. He has established characters in such a fashion that they appear to be real and materialized.
Imran Series has a range of diverse, colourful, and sentient characters. Some of the members of secret service
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
include X2 (played by Ali Imran and Tahir aka BlackZero), Juliana Fitzwater, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf , Khawar, Chauhan, Nomani , Siddeeque, etc. Imran's family includes his father Karam-Rahman (also mentioned as Abdul Rahman in initial books), mother Amma Bi, and sister Surayya. Imran's escorts include driver/body-guard Joseph Mugunda from Central Africa, cook Sulaiman, and Sulaiman's wife Gul-Rukh.
Now-a-days in new books written by Mazhar Kaleem, names of characters are given below, namely:
Tahir/Black Zero, Ali Imran
Ali Imran
Ali Imran is a fictional character in various Urdu language detective novels written by Asrar Ahmed under the pseudonym of Ibn-e-Safi. He serves as the titular protagonist in the Imran Series novels...
M.Sc. and D.Sc. (oxen), Juliana Fitzwater (Julia), Sualeha, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf, Captin Shakeel, Siddeeque, Chauhan, Khawar, Nomani, Captin Babar (in some novels), Tiger (Rizwan), Joseph, Juana, Sulaiman, Sir Sultan etc.
For a detailed account of characters appearing in Imran Series, please visit more links at the bottom of this page.
It began with Khaufnak Imarat (The Fearful Building), and ended with Aakhri Aadmi (The Last Man), unfinished at the time of Ibn-e-Safi's
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
death.
Plagiarism
During 1960-1963, while Ibn-e-SafiIbn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
was suffering from schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, many amateur writers started posing themselves as Ibn-e-Safi and produced third class copies of his work, distorting the character of not only Ali Imran
Ali Imran
Ali Imran is a fictional character in various Urdu language detective novels written by Asrar Ahmed under the pseudonym of Ibn-e-Safi. He serves as the titular protagonist in the Imran Series novels...
, but also of Colonel Faridi
Ahmad Kamal Faridi
Ahmad Kamal Faridi is a fictional spy and crime-fighter, created by Ibn-e-Safi as the lead character of the of Urdu spy novel series Jasoosi Dunya ....
and Captain Hameed
Sajid Hameed
Sajid Hameed is a fictional spy and crime-fighter, the chief assistant to Colonel Faridi in the Jasoosi Dunya series of Urdu spy novels by Ibn-e-Safi.-Personality:Hameed's character complements that of Faridi's...
. These acts of vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
were reported by Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
himself in the paish-rus (preface) of "Dairh Matwaalay" (One and a Half Amused - #42) (which was the novel he returned with after his recovery). Some writers and publishers still continue to write on Safi's characters, much to the annoyance of many fans. Safi used to mention fans' complaints sometimes in the prefaces, and mocked the fake publishers and writers in his own witty style.
Differences between Mazhar Kaleem And Ibne Safi
- Some of the differences between Ibn-e-Safi's and Mazhar Kaleem's books are as follows:
Ibn-e-Safi's writing style can mostly be categorized under mystery fiction (with the exception of a few adventures). Mazhar Kaleem, however, does not rely on mystery but on action-oriented situational twists, with the overall plot of the story revealed in the first few chapters.
Ibn-e-Safi's Ali Imran, although highly intelligent, is not a super-human; Kaleem portrays him as a "man of all qualities" and "indestructible".
- Although Ibn-e-Safi never explicitly stated the name of Imran's country, he used to mention the real names of other countries and cities. Kaleem uses aliases for all country and city names (except Israel).
- Ibn-e-Safi brought Ali Imran and Colonel Fareedi together just once in his novels (and that too in Jasoosi Dunya special number). Kaleem has done that many times, openly favouring Ali Imran against Faridi. (Kaleem has not written any story with Faridi as the main protagonist.)
- Many main characters created by Ibn-e-Safi are not present in Kaleem's books. Examples include Roshee, Zafar-ul-Mulk, Jameson, Sing Hee, T3B and others. (It is interesting to note that Ibn-e-Safi threatened to take legal action against those writers and publishers who would use the characters of Zafar-ul-Mulk and Jameson in their own publications.) Some of the main characters introduced by Kaleem are Captain Shakeel, Juana, Tiger, Shagal, Madaam Rikha, Sualeha, Fisal Jaan, Col. Hillgard, and Inspector Arif.
- In Ibn-e-Safi's Imran series Sulaiman is later married to a girl named Gul Rukh, but in Mazhar Kaleem's novels, Sulaiman is still a bachelor.
Continuance of Imran Series by Other Authors
Some writers who acquired fame by writing their own versions of Imran Series (specially after the death of Ibn-e-SafiIbn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
) include Mazhar Kaleem
Mazhar Kaleem
Mazhar Kaleem is a Pakistani novelist chiefly famous for his Imran Series novels, Urdu spy fiction written within Imran Series mythos created by the late Ibn-e-Safi....
, Safdar Shaheen
Safdar Shaheen
Safdar Shaheen is an author from Multan, Pakistan, whose work includes children's books and Urdu spy novels within the Imran Series mythos created by the late Ibn-e-Safi....
, Ibn-e-Rahat, Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi, H.Iqbal, Ayne Safi, MA Rahat, MA Sajid, Ibne Kaleem, Azhar Kaleem, M.A PeerzadaIbne Kaleem, S.Qureshi, N-Safi,Nasir Javed, Zaheer Ahmed, Irshad Alaser Jaferi, Syed Ali Hassan Gillani, Ali Nawazish. Mazhar Kaleem is still writing novels and enjoys enough fan-following. He has introduced many new characters in the series. Most fans of Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad , a best-selling and prolific fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Arabian expression which literally means Son of Safi, where the word Safi means chaste or righteous...
, however, dismiss Kaleem's books, arguing that Kaleem distorted the original 'feel' of the series, and that he deformed the key characteristics of many characters, including Ali Imran. Nevertheless, his novels have a significant readership.
See also
- Tiger (Rizwan)Tiger (Rizwan)Tiger is a character of Imran series.Tiger is the student of Ali Imran in Judo, martial art, sing art, make-up and copying voice of the key gangsters. He is a serious, but benevolent and pleasing personality. He is titled to be the 2nd Imran of Pakasia , because his ability and skill in field is...
- Family of Ali ImranFamily of Ali ImranAli Imran is a fictional spymaster and the protagonist of the Imran Series of Urdu spy-comedy novels by the Pakistani author Ibn-e-Safi.-Ali Imran's Family:...
- Imran series charactersImran series charactersThis page lists important characters of the Imran Series of Urdu spy-comedy novels originally written by the Pakistani author Ibn-e-Safi and later continued by Mazhar Kaleem.-Secret Service members:...
- Complete List of Imran Series (Old)Complete List of Imran Series (Old)Imran Series is the best-selling series of Urdu spy novels written from 1955 by Ibn-e-Safi.Both "Doctor Dua-go" and "Jonk Ki Wapsi" were published as a series of episodes in The Daily Hurriyat, and later published in the form of books by Asrar Publications...
- List of Imran Series Novels (New)
- List Of Imran Series Authors