Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

heaven’s synod ... Very well, tell him not to worry. Let the self-proclaimed

saintgotohellandthedebaucheehedespisesgotoparadise.Foronerenthis

soul in remorse, seared in conscience, scalded himself with tears, while the

otherreliedonhispersonalasceticdevotion.’Ifonlyheknew:inthecourtof

the Opulent, helplessness excels pride, contrition outshines egoism. The

clothes of pride are pretty, but its underwear is filthy. On this threshold

poverty and contrition serve you better than self-adoration or devotion. ...

Godlinessandegoismareopposites...Itsimplydoesn’tmatterwhetheryou’re

a profligate, fortune wasted away, or painstaking ascetic full of vain mortifi-

cation....Thewiseallhavetheiradages,pronouncedforposterity.FromSa‛dī

learn by heart one maxim alone: The soul-mortified sinner, brooding on God

isbetterthanthecantingascetic[zāhid]affectingpiety.^79

As Sa‛dī explains in this passage, it is egotism and self-righteousness which are
thechiefflawsoftheMuslimascetic’sreligiouspersonality.Thesetwovicesactasa
veil between his soul and God. This veil the Sufis refer to as ‘the veil of the infidel
selfhood’.

TheVeiloftheInfidelSelfhood

Ifitwerenotforhisvainconceitandhypocrisy(khwud-bīnī,riyā)–whichinḤāfiẓ’s
viewareconsideredtobetheMotherofEvil^80 – thepuritanmightevenbeforgiven.
But there is no possibility of spiritual knowledge or gnosis (ma‘rifat), as long as
conceit in one’s own learning exists. Ḥāfiẓ views the true poet-savant as always
‘selfless’,^81 spiritual liberation lying in the negation of egocentric consciousness.
This is the supreme Sufi art ofunselfconsciousness, existence through nonbeing–
literallynotseeingoneself:

Aslongasyouseeyourselflearnedandintellectual

You’lllodgewithidiots;moveover,ifyou

Canstopseeingyourselfatall,youwillbefree.^82

The above verse provides an exact versification of a saying by the Sufi saint Shāh
Shujā‘ Kirmānī (d. after 270/884) concerning the true meaning of ‘learning’ (faḍl):
‘Learnedandintellectualfolk[ahl-ifaḍl]maybesaidtobemorevirtuousthanother
peopleaslongastheydonotseetheirownlearning,butoncetheyperceivethem-
selvestobelearnedorvirtuous,theyceasetohaveanyvirtueatall.’^83
Thenotionof‘notseeingoneself’asthekeytospiritualfreedom,asAbū’l-Ḥasan
‘Abdal-RaḥmānKhatmīLāhūrī,commentingonthisverse,pointsout,isbestillus-
tratedinastorytoldinthebeautifulmedievalSufiworkontheDivineNames:the
Rawḥal-arwāhfisharḥasmā’al-malikal-fattāḥbyAḥmadSam‘ānī(d.534/1140)about
Bishr ibn Ḥārith Ḥāfī (d. 227/842), a Persian Sufi from Merv in Khurāsān. In his

ḤāfiẓandthePersianSufiTradition 171