Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

‘Thestranger’(nāmaḥram)inpopularparlanceisonewhoisnotallowedtoseea
woman‘unveiled’,^55 who,ifhedoesgazeuponher,deservestobepunishedand
spurnedbysociety.Theforbidden,veiledsecret(rāz)referredtohereisthebeauty
oftheBelovedasitwasoncerevealedtothehumansoul–beforeitwasveiledand
concealedfromnon-initiates.^56 Beheldfromthisperspective,Ḥāfiẓisnotonly
merelyhewhoremembersthesecretofpre-Eternity,butalsothecustodianofthat
secret.^57 Asafaithfulcustodian,heknowsthatthesecretcannotbedivulged
directly,butshouldberevealedonlywhensuitablydeckedoutintheveridicalsym-
bolsandintricatesubtletiesofbeautifulpoetry.And,indeed,thereadingofanyof
hisghazalsisnecessarilyamysteriousprocessthatbringsupamyriadquestion.
Whoisspeaking?Towhom?Where?When?Whichconceptsdotheimagessymbol-
ize?UtterperplexityispartofthepleasurewhenreadingaPersianghazalingen-
eral,andaghazalbyḤāfiẓinparticular.^58 Theapparentdisparityofthedistiches
enhancesthisfeelingofakindofnuclearaestheticsthatlacksunity,givingthe
deceptiveimpressionthattheselinesarebut‘orientpearlsatrandomstrung’.^59 And
yetthereisunity,butinaveryobliqueway.Inthesamewayastheprimordial
visionofbeautyandtheall-encompassingexperienceofloveconstitutethefound-
ingmetaphysicalprinciplesofcreationandthesecretoftheunityofbeing,aes-
thetically the same structure presides over the design of the ghazal: it seems
complicatedtotheextreme,upsidedown,discombobulated,evenchaoticlikethe
visibleworldofmultiplicity,buttheunderlyingunifyingthreadtotheparadoxical
realityofloveandbeautyisalwaysthere.If,inthebeginning,beautywasone,
whenitdescendedintothisworlditappearedinmultipleforms:

OnthedayofPre-Eternity,yourFaceinitsglory

Brokethroughfrombehindtheveil.Alloftheseforms

Fellintothevastmirroringseaofimagination.^60

Becauseofitsmultipleworldlyforms,beautycannotbecontemplatedasaunified

whole,buthastobeevokedindetails:eachdetailofbeautyinturnbecomesan

icon,apartialemblemindicativeofitstranscendentwhole.TheBelovedcanactu-

allyneverbedescribedintotality(butcanHe/Sheberepresented?),butonly

throughclassicalandemblematicclichéssuchastheeye,themole,thehair,the

face,thelips...Inthefirstchapterofhistreatiseonlove,AḥmadGhazālīwarnshis

readerthat‘thedifferencebetweenobjectsofloveisaccidentalandfortuitous’,^61

andlaterhegivesanessentialcluetotheunderstandingoftherepresentationof

beautyinthemysticghazal:

IntherealmofImagination,sometimesLovemanifestsandrevealsasignof

itselfinsomedeterminedform,sometimesnot.Sometimesitappearsthrough

thecurl,sometimesthroughthedownonthecheek,sometimesthroughthe

mole,sometimesthroughthestature,sometimesthroughtheeyeorthrough

the eyebrow or through the coquettish glance, sometimes through the

Ḥāfiẓ and the School of Love in Classical Persian Poetry 133