THE DIWAN OF ZEB-UN-NISSA: THE FIRST FIFTY GHAZALS RENDERED FROM THE PERSIAN BY MAGAN LAL AND JESSIE DUNCAN WESTBROOK

Zeb-un-Nissa lived in a period when many "great" poets were at the peak of their reputation; e.g. Mawlana Abdul Qader Bedil, Kalim Kashani, Saa'eb Tabrizi and Ghani Kashmiri. There is a noticeable influence of Hafez Sherazi's style on the poetry of Zeb-un-Nissa. However, she is considered as one of the poets of the Indian School of Poetry in Persian. "Zebunnisa was trained in the serious study of religious doctrine and in matters in faith, and she was known as an excellent scholar in several academic areas and as a literary figure and patron of some renown. She sang well and composed songs and planted many of the gardens of her day." Zeb-un-Nissa selected "Makhfi" (which means "Hidden One" in Persian) as her pen-name in her poetry. In addition to her poetic book or collection of poems, called Diwan, which contains approximately 5,000 verses, she also wrote the following booksMonis 'ul-Roh, Zeb 'ul-Monsha’at , ("Literary Compositions of Zeb") and Zeb 'ul-Tafāsir, ("Tafsirs of Zeb"), the first and only tafsir written by a woman. In Makhzan 'ul-Ghaib, the author writes that the poetic book of Zeb-un-Nissa contained 15,000 verses. Zeb-un-Nissa encouraged compilations and translations of various works also.