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the sake of the honor of the religious law and obedience to the Bearer of the
Law,keepthesecretsconcealedanddonottellthemtoanyone.’^155
AccordingtoSufitheosophicalteachingsabouttheDivineNames,God’sforgiveness
is thus manifested through a ‘theophany’ (tajallī) of certain divine Names and
AttributesthatrevealHisMercy.Forinstance,GodmanifestsHimselfasthe‘Veilerof
Faults’ and ‘Concealer of Vices’ (Sattāral-‘uyūb) under the aegis of His divine Name:
‘The All-forgiving’ (Al-Ghaffār). Ḥāfiẓ devoted an entireghazalto describing his own
experienceoftheophanicilluminationwiththedivineAttributes,describinghow:
...Thebeamthatflashedoutfrom
TheEssencemademeselfless,andthebrew
TheygavemefromtheCupofRadiant
TheophanyrevealedtometheAttributes...^156
WhenbathedintheradiantgloryofthistheophanyofdivineMercy,allhumansin
appears negligible and insignificant, sings Ḥāfiẓ, echoing Sulṭān Walad’s vision of
God’sforgivenessofallsins.TheShīrāzīpoettakesrecoursetothesameSufitheo-
logicaldoctrineofGod’s‘all-forgiving’Natureintwootherverses – bothofwhich,
thoughcitedabove,meritrepetitionhere:
Don’tlookwithcontemptatadrunklikeme,
ForallthevauntedgloryoftheSharī‘a
Cannottrashedbysuchsmallminutiae.^157
***
Come,come!Thegloryofthiscosmicfactory
Shallnotbemadeonewhitlessormorethroughausterity
Ofmenlikeyouorbydebaucheryoffolklikeme.^158
TheMetaphysicalJustificationofSin
Virtueitselfturnsvice,beingmisapplied,
Andvicesometime’sbyactiondignified.
Shakespeare^159
OneofthemostparadoxicalideasinḤāfiẓ’stheologyofsinbywhichhejustifiesthe
inspiredlibertine’ssalvationiswhatmightbecalledthemetaphysicaljustificationof
sin.^160 The inspired libertine, enthralled in the chains ofEros, has realized the
exalteddegreeofspiritualpoverty,andparadoxicallybecomesafreespiritwhonei-
thersighsforHeavennorquakesinfearofHell,whichiswhy:
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry