Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

xii

comparison with “A Persian Song”’.^8 It is known, however, that Byron admired

Jones’displayofskillinpoetictechniqueinthisparticulartranslation.Jones’ver-

sionisallverywell(Byron’sofcoursehasreallynothingtodowithexaminationof

thePersianoriginal),butJonesisalongwayfrom:

IfthatShīrāzīTurkcapturesourheart,

ForhisHindudarkmoleIwouldforgiveSamarqandandBukhārā.^9

withitsconnotationoftheallureofcrueltyintheTurk.

There is no need to go further in listing translations of Ḥāfiẓ. In hisClassical

PersianLiterature,ChapterXIII,^10 ProfessorArberrygivesamostusefulsummaryof

variousḤāfiẓtranslations;and,moreparticularly,translationsintoseveraltongues

arecoveredindetailintheEncyclopaediaIranicaarticleonḤāfiẓ.Tothisarticleour

colleaguesFranklinLewisandParvinLoloi,whoseessaysgracethisvolume,made

valuablecontributions.Butaboveallthedebtisgreatthatweowetothelatter’s

Ḥāfiẓ, Master of Persian Poetry: A Critical Bibliography, with the subtitle English

TranslationsSincetheEighteenthCentury.^11 Inconclusionhere,itshouldbenotedthat

whentheaimistoconveywhatthepoetreallysaid,notwhatthetranslatorthinks

hemightoroughttohavebeensaying,versionsinakindofjingle,andeventhe

betterversetranslations,doerectanextracurtainbetweenareaderwhodoesnot

knowPersianandtheoriginal.

ItisnotonlythecharmofḤāfiẓ’sversesthatmakeshimsuchanimportantworld

poet,andtheuniversalityofhisappealtomanydifferentkindsofpeopleandthe

wholegamutoftheiremotions.Itisthewayinwhichhispoetry,althoughitgrew

outofagreattraditionalreadyestablishedbyhistime,ridesaboveallthatpreceded

it,whileitaddressesitselftotheheartsofeveryone.Itisasif,inourstateofimpris-

onmentbeneaththePtolemaicdome–asthecosmoswasseeninḤāfiẓ’stime–his

purposewastopiercethatdomeandreachtheclearlightoftheEmpyreanbeyond

itinaprocesspropelledbylove.

HereitisappropriatetomentiontheproblemoffatalisminPersianliterature.

ThefatalismwhichhauntstheShāhnāmaofFirdawsī(diedcirca1020or1025AD)is

notthekindreflectedinthepoetryofḤāfiẓ.AsDrAnnabelKeeler,inherrecently

publishedSufi Hermeneutics: the Qur’an Commentary of Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī, makes

clear,^12 Sufi‘fatalism’orconceptofpredestinationshouldnotberelatedtotheidea

ofpredestinationasderivedfromaZurvaniteorpre-IslamicIranianethos.^13

SufismistotallyhingedonIslam:fortheSufi,Man’slifewaspre-legislatedfor

whenGodaskedAdam,Alastubirabbikum?(AmInotyourLord?),andAdamreplied

‘Yes’,^14 thiswastheCovenantbetweenGodandMan.ItistothisCovenantthatḤāfiẓ

referswhenhespeaksof,forexample,theinevitabilityofhisbeingadrunkard.Itis

interestingtoseehimusingthesameformulaofFirdawsī,ontheimmutabilityof

theWrittenDecree,butinadifferentcontext.ForḤāfiẓsays,‘TheWrittenDecree

cannotbeerased’,buthebeginshiscoupletwith,‘Forme,fromthebeginningof

Eternity,lovewaswritten’.Firdawsīhasnoreferencetolove.Hebeginshiscouplet

00c_Hafiz_i-xxvi8/4/1011:11Pagexii

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry