Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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Beloved’slaughandsometimesthroughHis/Herrebuke.Andeachofthese

significationsisasignindicativeofadifferentkindofquestwithinthelover’s

soul.^62

Inourghazal,though,Beautyisevokedmainlyasaburningfirethatisassociated
withpurelight.TheonlyphysicaldetailsborrowedfromtheclassicalPersianpoetic
canonofbeautyarethedimple(chāh-i zanakhdān-i tu:‘thewellwithinyoursunken
chin’)andthe‘tangledlocks’,whichsuggestcertaincomplications.Boththese
physicaldetailsstandinradicaloppositiontothethemeoflight,sincethedimple-
wellandthetangledlocksasimagesconveytheideaofdarknessandimpenetrable
gloom.Inaddition,theclassicalimageisherereversed:usuallythehairisusedby
thelovertopullhimselfoutofthewell,^63 whereashere(uniquelyinthewhole
Dīvān)itisusedtodescendintoit,because‘thehighercelestialsoul’,theverysoul
thathadwitnessedtheapparitionofbeautyintheformoflight,desiresthesunken
well,thedimpleinthechin.Symbolicallythesoulthendesirestodescendsoasto
experiencethedarksideofbeauty.Indeed,thebeautyofthebelovedcanbe
classifiedintotwomajorcategories:luminescentanddark,correspondingtothe
polarityofdivineattributesofGrace(luṭf)andWrath(qahr).^64 Theopposition
betweenthesetwoisintegraltothemanifestationofhumanbeauty,asinthepoetic
imagejuxtaposingthebeloved’s‘darkhair’toher‘shiningface’,forexample.The
darksideofbeautyinPersianpoetryisassociatedwiththenight,andisrepresented
bythehair,themole(incertaincases)andthewell-dimple,alludingtoworldly
complications and the material entanglements, the experience of which,
nonetheless,causesthematurationofthelover’spersonalityonthepathoflove.^65
Inthisverse(148,v.6),thedescentdowntoearthispresentedasthehighersoul’s
hankeringaftercontemplationofformsofbeautyintheexistentialmultiplicityof
theworld.Onemayalsoaddthattheimageofthewellinthisverseimmediately
bringstomindthefigureofJosephofEgypt,exemplarpar excellenceofhuman
beautyinIslam,whoseimprisonmentinthewellatthehandofhisjealousbrothers
symbolizestheterrestrialexileofthesoul‘toogoodandfairfortheworld’.Justas
Josepheventuallyemergesfromthewellandmeetshisbrilliantdestiny,sothe
highersoul,itselfanexpirationoftheCreator’sbreathofgracewhichhaspreserved
somethingofitsoriginaldivinebeauty,afterundergoingthelongandpainful
journeyoflove,maycomeoutofthewelloftheworldandrecoveritsmemory.And,
ofcourse,thisversedirectlyechoesthefirstline:forallstartedintimebeforetime,
inpre-Eternity(azal),atthetimeoftheCovenant.Somethinghappenedthenthat
causedthesoul‘tofall’inlove,thatmadeitirrevocablydecidetodescendand
acquiescetoitsexileonearthandalifeofpainandseparation.Soitcameintothe
world,whereithankersaftertheformsofbeautythatreminditoftheformless
beautycontemplatedinazalandreflectedintheformsoftheghazal.

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry