Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Editor’s Introduction and

Acknowledgements

Tempus omnia revelat, Ḥāfiẓ’s verse preserves its immortality through contempo-

raneity.Ḥāfiẓhasstreet-touch.ComparingḤāfiẓwiththeBard,PeterAveryrecalls

in his Foreword above how much easier it is for the native – even an illiterate –

Iraniantointerpretthecomplicatedtheological,mysticalandsocialreferencesin

Ḥāfiẓ’spoetry,torevelinthenuancesofhisallusions,understandingandreciting

hisversesbyheartwithrefinementanddepthoffeelingthanitisforthemodern

educated English person to appreciate even the most basic literary allusions of

Shakespeare’s sonnets. Two external factors – literary and socio-linguistic – par-

tiallyaccountforthis.Ontheonehand,Persianatesocietiestodayremainbardic

civilizationsinwhichbricklayerssingtheghazalsofSa‛dīandRūmīastheywork,

anddiscussionoftheverseofḤāfiẓand‘Irāqīregularlyenrichesthecommonman’s

hoursofleisure.Ontheother,IraniansandAfghansandthenativesoftheother

PersianatelandsofCentralAsia,suchasTajikistan,byandlargespeakexactlythe

samePersiantonguespokeninfourteenth-centuryShīrāzbyḤāfiẓ.

Theworldofreligiouswars,theologicalcontroversiesandembattledfanaticisms

thatchokedandfilledḤāfiẓ’ssoulwiththesmokeandfumesofanti-clericalparo-

dies and biting religious satire still prevails today – which is why his verse can

accurately articulate and redress the same political passions that hold sway

throughoutthecontemporaryPersianateworld.Whereasthefanaticismsandtribal

sectarian quarrels over religion heard during Ḥāfiẓ’s day are still audible on an

hourlybasisinIrantodayfrompulpit,radioandtelevision,onlyatinyminorityof

trainedhistorianscanimaginativelyrelocatethemselveswithinaProtestantpolice

state of England during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign. Linguistically as well, the lan-

guageofShakespeare’splaysappearstousasaquaint,archaicdialectatbest,adead

language at the worst. Hence Ḥāfiẓ’sSententiae– unlike many of Shakespeare’s –

nevergrowoutofdate,todayremainingasàpropostothemoderncontextofpolit-

icalargumentandsocialdebateastheydidin1387when,outsidetherampartsof

the city of Iṣfahān, Tamerlane erected minarets out of the severed sconces of its

inhabitants.

Albeit immanent in popular consciousness, most of Ḥāfiẓ’s mythopoesis – his

languageofanalogyandcapacityforthinkinginsymbols–isnolongerpartofthe

mentalfurnitureofmodernman.Theaestheticpremisesofhispoetryareincom-

prehensiblewithintheconceptualframeworkofmodernanti-artmovementssuch

as surrealism, minimalism, abstract expressionism or ‘pop’ art, for the principles

of his spiritual vision, being heart-based and focused on presential knowledge

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