Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

hispoetry],andthesorrowfulsoulwouldfindfreshfragrancesfromthe

breezeofthatgarden.^6

Itisimportanttounderlinetheextenttowhichmultipleinterpretationsofthe
verseofḤāfiẓareassumedtobenormal.Davānī’sprocedureinthisparticulartext
is,onthesurfaceatleast,systematic.Heundertakestoexploretheversefromthree
different perspectives: first, the unitarians; second, the Sufis; and third, the
PeripateticandIlluminationistsages(ḥukamā).Davānīdoesnotpreciselyindicate
whothesegroupsareorhowtheydifferfromoneanother–thereiscertainlyat
thistimeafairamountofoverlapbetweentheconcernsofphilosophersandSufis,
forexample.Hiscategoryofunitariansissimilartotheuseofthattermby‘Azīzal-
DīnNasafī,todescribeakindofphilosophicalmystic.^7 Inanycase,forDavānīit
seemstobeanimportantmethodologicalprincipletoacknowledgethesedifferent
perspectives,whichhelikenstothedifferent‘drinkingplaces’foundbyeachofthe
12IsraelitetribesintheQur’ānictext,playinguponthealternatemeaningofthis
word(mashrab)asaschoolorteaching.ItisalsonoteworthythatDavānīappliesan
oracularepithettoḤāfiẓ,callinghim‘thetongueofthemoment’(lisān al-waqt).His
approachisnotliteraryintheordinarysense,butexegetical,evenasitacknowl-
edgesthatallreadersarelikelytofindtheirownperspectivesconfirmedbythe
poetryofḤāfiẓ.
Thediscussionoftheunitariansisthelongest,anditisdividedintosixseparate
sectionsor‘observations’(entitledmashhad),eachdevotedtotheinterpretationof
aparticularsymboloraspectoftheverse:1)lastnight;2)thespeakeroftheverse;
3)theangels;4)thetavern;5)theclayofAdam;6)themeaningofthrowingtheclay
ofAdamintheformofacup.Davānīdefendsthisfocusonindividualimageswith
thefollowingjustification:

Thesubtleqalandarsandrealizedgreatonesareoftheviewthat,inorderthat

thebridesofmeaningshouldremainhiddenfromtheunworthyandshould

notbepawedbytheworldly,therealitiesofgnosishavebeendisplayedinthe

cloakofsimilitudes,andspiritualmeaningsintheformsofperceptiblethings.

Theyhavetakentheirinspirationfromthisverse:‘Thesearethesimilitudes

thatWecoinforthepeople,andnoneunderstandsexceptthewise’(Q29:43).

Verse:‘Whenyouhearthenamespoken,runtowardsthethingthatisnamed;

/otherwisethespeechofecstaticsremainsariddle.’Necessarily,whenever

thepeopleofthehearttellasecret,theyrevealtheiraimsbythemethodof

metonymy[kināyat],sothatthepeopleofinterpretation[ta’wīl]mayunder-

standthegoalsofthosemelodiesthroughexperientialproofs.^8

SoDavānī’smethoddependsuponreadingindividualwordsandcodedsymbolsthat
metaphoricallyrepresentunstatedrealities.^9 Thisisarobusthermeneuticthathe
applieswithouthesitation,whilestilllocatingtheexerciseaestheticallyinthe
realmofpoetryframedinperformancewithmusicalmelody(tarāna).

Ḥāfiẓ and the Persian Sufi Tradition 199