Most mathnawī poems follow a meter of eleven, or occasionally ten, syllables, but had no limit in their length.
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.