Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Thebeggaronyourbackstreetdoesnothaveneed

OfanyofHeaven’seightfoldMansions;thecaptive

InyourchainsisfreeofboththisworldandtheNext.^161

Hismetaphysicaljustificationofsinleadshimtoadvocatetheantinomianviewthat
paradise is the final fate ofsinnersrather than the reward for those who are espe-
ciallypiousandgood,andhencehisboast:

Heavenisordainedforus.Paradiseourdestiny.

Ohtheologian,goaway!

It’serringsinnerswhodeserveGod’sgenerosity.^162

The poet here definitelydoes not meanthat any foolish sinner deserves heaven
more than the inspired seer. The epithet ‘theologian’ (khudā-shinās: ‘knower of
God’)giventothepretentiousandsanctimoniousasceticismeantsarcastically,not
seriously.^163 AlthoughḤāfiẓ’spoetictheologyisherecouchedinalanguagesubver-
sive to orthodox Islamic soteriology, the theological doctrine underpinning the
apparent blasphemy of the verse is based on a number of venerable sources in
classical Islamic thought. Here only one of these need be mentioned. Ghazālī
relatesthatoncetheProphetsaid:‘Therearecertaindevoteeswhowillenterpara-
disebecauseof committing a sin.’ ‘How can that be?’ he was asked. Muḥammad
responded: ‘The devotee may commit a sin, and then feel remorseful about it
and so repent of it, thus keeping it before his mind until the day he enters
Paradise.’^164
ComplementingḤāfiẓ’sdoctrineofthemetaphysicaljustificationofsinappearsthe
sister concept of themetaphysicalnecessityofsin. InTheSinners’Paradise, a major
work consecrated to the spiritual necessity of sin in Islam, Shaykh Aḥmad Jām
(ZhandaPīl,d.520/1126)^165 explainsthisdoctrineasfollows:

Gnosis is a ‘burning light’ and the lamp from which it shines is a ‘burning

light’,^166 – thegnostic’schestthereceptacleforitslight–sothelightofgnosis

[nūr-ima‘rifat]keepsthegnostic‘warm’inthesamewaythatthelampwarms

up the glass. Just as whatever you put in that lamp will be burnt up by it, so

every sin which the light of gnosis shines upon is obliterated and annulled.

Just as firewood cannot withstand fire, so sin cannot resist gnosis. Just as a

candlecannotbeusedasalampinthesunshine,norevenbeusedduringday-

light, so the gnostic, when illumined by the shining rays of gnosis, does not

need to have recourse to any rational mode of demonstration or guidance in

ordertoknowGod.Likewise,justasalampisofbenefitinthedarknessofthe

night,thelampofgnosisalsoperformsitsproperservicewhenconfrontedby

theturbidityofsinandthedarknessofhereticalinnovation[bid‘at].

...GodAlmightyhascomparedgnosistoafiresothatwewillknowthatjust

asnothingcanwithstandfire,whichburnsupeverythingthatiscombustible,

ḤāfiẓandthePersianSufiTradition 185