Certain Persian mat̲h̲nawī poems, such as Rumi's Masnavi-e Ma’navi, have had a special religious significance in Sufism.
Instead, they include an internal rhyme scheme within each bayt with an extensive use of alliteration and follow a specific meter.
Most masnawī have a distinction between the introductory and body paragraphs (although it is not always easy to determine where that is), praise of the one God and prayers, a eulogy of the Prophet, reflections on the value of poetry, and occasionally a description of an object as a significant symbol.
[8] Certain Persian masnawī have had a special religious significance in Sufism, such as Rumi's Masnavi-i Ma’nawi, which consists of 6 books/25,000 verses and which has been used in prayer among many Sufi's, such as the Whirling Dervishes.
[9] While some Islamic legalists find the practice unconscionable, the Sufi scholar and jurist Abu Hamid al-Ghazali supported the use of poetry as worship.
[12] Turkish mathnawī are strongly driven by their plot, and are usually categorized into three genres—mutaḳārib (heroic), ramal (religio-didactic), and hazadj (romantic).
In the beginning of this period, many masnawī were religious in nature, but then grew to include romantic, heroic, and even secular stories.
Another new convention that appeared in middle Urdu masnawī was authors using their own personal experiences as a subject for their poem.