Mathnavi: A Persian or an Arabic Prosodic Form?

Mathnavi is one of the very frequently used prosodic forms in the Persian literature and very often, it is used for narrating and describing long stories. On the other hand, the couplet form (مزدوج) has a long background in the Arabic literature. Concentrating on the oldest Arabic couplets and Persian mathnavi verses, the article tries to answer the question whether mathnavi is a poetic form invented by Iranians or the Arabs substitute it with the word muzdavaje, i. e. couplet.