Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

factthathetoo,thoughinaverydifferentmanner,dealswithcourtlylove,butalso,

andmoreimportantly,becausewiththeflameofhispoetryhesucceededinkeep-

ing alive a delicate cultural entity and true spirituality in times of cruelty and

brutality,asdidthetroubadoursduringtheEuropeanDarkAges.Asforcourtlylove,

inthecaseofthetroubadoursitcomesacrosstousasdistinctlyrelatedtospecific

human situations: the peasant lass is perfectly real, and the cold and aloof great

lady perfectly conceivable. Ḥāfiẓ, on the other hand, is free from the Occidental

preoccupationwiththehumanself.Hisloverandbelovedarenotrepresentedby

identifiablehumanbeings.Theyappearinsymbolicfigures:thenightingaleandthe

rose,forexample.Forhimtheproblemofloveisliftedabovethemundane,tangi-

blelevel:thebelovedcanbespeltwithasmalloracapital‘b’.

Achievedisasenseofexquisitebeautyquiteoutsidetheeverydayhumansphere.

Itisthestilllovelinessoftheminiature,translatedintothemovementandrhythms

ofpoetry.Itistherecollectionofabeautythatpresentsthechallengeofwhatisnot

tobeobtainedwithoutthecultivationofavirtueexcludingallthatiscarnal.Weare

transportedfromearthtoheaven,and,asoneortwonineteenth-centuryEuropean

travellersobserved,inIranearthandheavenoftenseemveryclosetoeachother.

Iranisaplateausome4,000feetabovesealevel;itisacountrywhereitispossible

atfouro’clockinthemorningtoread,duringthedarknessofnight,bythelightof

thestarsalone.Thefunctionofpoetryasthepreserverofculturalrefinementin

timesofculturaldegradationisnevermoreevidentthanitisinthetroubadours’

andḤāfiẓ’spoetry.Theybothestablished–or,inthecaseofḤāfiẓ,continued–a

poeticaltradition.

It should be emphasized that Ḥāfiẓ was heir to a great poetic tradition. Many

tropes, such as for instance the Shīrāzī Turk, were inherited from predecessors.

Sa‛dī,itwillberemembered,hasaghazalinwhichhesays:

AtthehandsoftheCathayanTurknobody’sendured

SuchcrueltyasIhaveatthehandsoftheShīrāzīTurk.

Thisisoneofthemoreobviousquarryingsintheminesofpoeticconventions.

Nizāmī-i‘ArūḍīSamarqandī’sstatementintheChahārMaqāla(‘FourDiscourses’),

whereheisspeakingaboutapoet’straining,mayberecalled.Hesaysthatapoet

cannotattainanyrank‘unlessintheprimeofhislifeandtheseasonofhisyouthhe

commitstomemory20,000coupletsofthepoetryoftheAncients,keepsinview(as

models) 10,000 verses of the works of the Moderns, and continually reads and

remembers thediwans[sic] of the masters of his art, observing how they have

acquittedthemselvesofthestraightpassesanddelicateplacesofsong,inorderthat

thus the different styles and varieties of verse may become engrained in his

nature...’.^22

Itcanbesaidthatpoetsarethereforeconstantlyproducingvariationsonthemes

suggestedbytheirforerunners.Sa‛dīgivesustoinferthattheShīrāzīTurk’scruelty

was far in excess of that experienced from the Cathayan Turk. As if to echo this

Foreword:ḤāfiẓofShīrāz xv

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