Mathnawi

Mathnawi ( MATH-nə-WEE), also spelled masnavi, mesnevi or masnawi, is a kind of poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically "a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines". Most mathnawi poems follow a meter of eleven, or occasionally ten, syllables, but have no limit in their length. Typical mathnawi poems consist of an indefinite number of couplets, with the rhyme scheme aa/bb/cc. Mathnawi poems have been written in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu cultures. Certain Persian mathnawi poems, such as Rumi's Masnavi, have had a special religious significance in Sufism. Other influential writings include the poems of Ghazali and ibn Arabi. Mathnawis are closely tied to Islamic theology, philosophy, and legends, and cannot be understood properly without knowledge of it.