Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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andtheirbeliefinmiraculousdeedsascribedtotheirsaints,thentheepithet

isamisnomer.^1

TheEncyclopaediaisnotofonemindonthismatter;thesectionbyFranklinLewison
theimageoftherogue(rind)inḤāfiẓisconsiderablymorenuancedinbalancingthe
denunciationofreligioushypocrisywiththesymbolismofspiritualauthenticity.^2
Bethatasitmay,inthisarticleIwillnotattempttodecidewhetherḤāfiẓisby
intentionasecularormysticalpoet,sincethequestionasposedmayinfactbe
badlyframed.Instead,Iwouldliketoexaminethecaseofoneoftheveryearliest
formalcommentatorsonthepoetryofḤāfiẓ,Jalālal-DīnDavānī(d.908/1502),the
eminentphilosopherandscholarofShīrāz.^3 Davānīiscreditedwithhalfadozen
shortuntitledtextscommentingonvariousversesbyḤāfiẓ.Althoughtheseare
generallyundated,inoneofthesewritingstheauthorreferstothenearcompletion
ofanotherofhisworks(theShawākil al-ḥūr,dated872/1468);thuswecanconclude
thatDavānīiscertainlyoneoftheearliest,ifnottheveryfirst,towriteaseparate
commentaryonḤāfiẓ.ThefactthatDavānīlivedinShīrāznotlongafterthedeath
ofḤāfiẓgiveshisinterpretationsaspecialsignificanceforthelikelyreaderrecep-
tionofhispoetrybyatleastsomecontemporaryaudiences.^4 Threeofthesecom-
mentaries by Davānī have been collected together in a convenient edition by
ḤusaynMu‘allim,entitledNaqd-i niyāzī,andasrepresentativesamples,thesewill
constitutethebasisforthefollowingobservations.^5
ThefirstofDavānī’scommentariesonḤāfiẓfocusesonthewell-knownverse,dūsh
dīdamkimalāyikdar-imaykhānazadand/gil-iĀdambi-sirishtandubi-paymānahzadand:
‘LastnightIsawtheangelsknockingonthetaverndoor;/theymixedtheclayof
Adamandthrewitasacup.’Intheopeningpages,hedescribeshisaimasfollows:

Thepurposeofthisintroductionisthatcertainofthesincerelovers,inthe

timesofconversationandthehoursofcloseness,askedaboutthecommen-

taryonaverseby‘thetongueofthemoment’,MasterShamsal-Millatwal-Dīn

MuḥammadḤāfiẓ...Afterthatrequestwasfulfilled,twoorthreewordswere

speedilywrittendowntothetasteoftheunitariansandthepathoftheSufis.

Oncompletion,thatdocumentwaslost.Oncemoretheybegantoask,and

withthehelpoftimeitwasformedinourwaywithcorrectcompositionand

writtenwithaverifieddescription.Itsbasiswasestablishedinthepathofthe

unitarians,theSufis,andthesages,sincetoeachofthesegroupsonthissub-

jectthereisaperspectiveandareflection,andinaccordancewiththegrasp

ofeverysoulthereisaconditionofrecollection.Bewarenottogetlostin

‘everytribeknewitsdrinkingplace[mashrab]’(Q2:60).Everypersoninthis

knowledgeisassociatedwithapath.Onemayhaveachievedeternalhappi-

ness,whileanotherisstuckatthebeginningofthealphabet.Onepersontakes

pleasureinecstasyandlisteningtomusic,whileanotherfindspeaceindanc-

ing.Mostsoughttextualconfirmation[fortheirpath]fromtheversesofthe

poetreferredto,sothattheirobjectiveswouldalsobecomeilluminated[by

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry