Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Guidedbyhishigherconsciousnessthatbestowsuponhimaperceptionoftheunity

ofoppositesthroughLove,thesinner–sagethusunderstandslikeḤāfiẓ:

HoweversomuchIamsteepedinsininahundreddifferentways

SinceI’vebecomeacquaintedwithLove,Inumbermyself

AmongthecompanyofthosewhoenjoyGod’smercy.^172

Since love transcends all religious commandments, overrules all sentient, illusory

andtemporalphenomena,resolvesallconflictsragingbetweenthevariousscholas-

tic schools of theology and jurisprudence, Ḥāfiẓ issues this ecumenical call for the

unityofreligionsfromthestationofLovewhichstillresoundstoday:

Let’sforgivetheseventy-twosectsfortheirridiculous

Warsandmisbehaviours.Becausetheycouldn’taccept

Thepathoftruth,theytooktheroadofmoonshine.^173

Conclusion

Astheabovediscussionhasshown,inordertounderstandḤāfiẓ’sviewsonthevice
andvirtueofsinnersorsaints,weneedtocomprehendtheinterior,spiritualsensein
which he approached the Qur’ān and theḥadīth. We must also study thenuancesof
his usage of the symbols of the mystical Sufi tradition in which his verse is
steeped.^174 IfḤāfiẓinhisverseinveighsagainstthefundamentalistIslamofthepuri-
tanzāhid, his antinomianism is not simply ‘blasphemy for the blasphemy’s sake’;
ratheritispartofhiscounter-ethicofbacchanalianpietyputattheserviceofEros.
Whatis‘profane’inhisverseisnotopposedtotheSacredassuch;ratherthestock
figures of the ‘drunkard’ (mast), ‘pervert’ (fāsiq) and ‘inspired libertine’ (rind) are
deliberatelyemployedaspartofthemalāmatīandqalandarīlexiconoftheprofaneto
scoff at religious cant and sanctimony. Part of Ḥāfiẓ’s anti-clerical repertoire, these
terms belong to the armoury of his bacchanalian counter-ethic that he wielded as
poeticweaponsinhisperpetualbattlewithIslam’sownhypocritesandPharisees.
The same may be said of Ḥāfiẓ’s vaunting of sin and exaltation of the sinner,
hisclaimthatGodistheblessedsinner’s,nottheself-righteouspietist’sfriend–all
his views on these matters have precisereligiousreferences withethicalconnota-
tions,^175 and are squarely based on well-known early Persian Sufitheoeroticand
metaphysicaldoctrines.^176 Underlying his passionate contempt for the Muslim
pharisees and puritans of his day, if one can detect the presence of a highermoral
message in his philosophical doctrine of ‘inspired libertinism’, it is perhaps best
encapsulatedinthisverse:

Heart-friend,IguideyouwellalongSalvation’sway:

Neithervauntperversitynorhawkausterity.^177

ḤāfiẓandthePersianSufiTradition 187