Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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Republic,withitstheoryofintermediaryluminositiesandreflectionsintervening
betweenthesoulandvisionoftheGood.Thesoul’seyes,whichheretoforehadbeen
accustomedtosombretenebrousshadowsofthecave,canonlybeholdthesunlight
directlyoncetheygraduallydivestandraisetheirbenightedvisionoutfromthe
surroundingmurkychiaroscuro.Similarly,thebeautyandtheintricaciesoflove,as
wellasthebeautyandsubtletiesofthepoemitself,^48 workasanintroductiontothe
visionofbeautyandtherealityoflove.Theimportanceofvisionisveryoften
insisteduponbyḤāfiẓ,whoconsidersthatbeautyandlovemustbeapproached
withthe‘rightvision’and‘insight’iftheirrealityistobecontemplated,ashesays:

Sinceyouaren’tworthyoftheside-glance

OftheDarling,don’ttryforunion.Lookingdirectly

IntoJamshid’scupdoesn’tworkfortheblind.^49

Jamshid’scup(Jām-iJam),afabulousgobletwhichbelongedtoJamshīd,amytholog-
icalkingofthePishdadiandynasty,wassaidtoreflectthewholeworld,andin
Persianpoetrythiscupsymbolizedtheheart:amicrocosmthatreflectsthemacro-
cosmandthefaceoftheBeloved.Assuch,itbecomesthefocusofcontemplation.In
anotherpoem,thelover/poetrelatesanencounterwiththe‘wisemage’who‘holds
upacup’where,‘fullofjoyanddelight’,hecontemplates‘inthatmirror,ahundred
differentkindofscenes’.^50 Inversessuchasthese,weapprehendthatinterior
visionoftheheartisthefundamentalsensefortheapprehensionoftruthandthe
acquisitionofknowledge.Becausethemanifestationoftruthisthroughbeauty,the
objectofcontemplationhastobethequintessenceofbeauty–thatis,theFaceof
theBeloved,anothermicrocosmwhichmirrorsthemacrocosm:

InPersianpoetry,theFaceisseenrightlyonlyintheeyeandspokentrulyon

thetongueofthepoetthroughwhomtheloverdiscourses.Thepoet/lover

seekstheFace,convincedthatwithinhimliesthat‘simpledivinesubstance’.

ThesearchfortheFaceisthenapenetrationwithintheinnermostself,

throughanoutburstof‘purelove’:thekindoflovethatwitnessesthesignof

thebeautyoftheFaceoutsidetheself.^51

Juxtaposedtothelover/poetwhopossesses‘innervision’andisthuscapableof
contemplation,asAḥmadGhazālītellsus,^52 wehavethe‘impostor’(mudda‘ī,v.4),
whopretendstoknowledgeofthingserotic,andthoughastrangertoloveyetstill
wishestowitnessthemysteryofloveandbeauty.Theterm‘sceneofMystery’
(tamāshāgah-i rāz)isliterallytheperspectivefromwhichtheoccultcanbecontem-
plated.Ofcourse,noteverybodyisallowedaccesstothatarcanelocusofcontem-
plation:neithertheangelswhoaredevoidoflove,northefalseloverwithhis
emptyclaims(mudda‘ī),who,accordingtoSufitradition,^53 isSatanhimself,disre-
gardinginhisjealousytheapparitionofthedivinetajallīinAdam,^54 yetstilltrying
togazeuponwhatisforbiddentohim.

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry