xxii‘AṭṭārofNishapur(d.618/1221or627/1229),Sa‛dī(d.circa691/1292)andJalālal-
DīnRūmī(d.672/1273).Thespiritualtraditionsthatsustainedthismadhhab-i‘ishq
andthetermsinclassicalPersianliteraturewhichreferredtoantinomianmystics–
qalandars (vagabonds, wild men),rind(inspired libertine),qallāsh(knave),mubāḥī
(libertine),dīvāna(lunatic)andlā-ubālī(daredevil,desperado)–areanalysedbythe
author,withappropriateversesbySa‛dīandḤāfiẓpraisingboththedaredevillā-
ubālīand the wildmanqalandarattitude, cited to contextualize their doctrines. In
Ḥāfiẓ’seroticspirituality,withhispenchantfortermssuchas‘Love’screed’(mad-
hhab-i‘ishq),the‘Magianmaster’sfaith’(madhhab-ipīr-imughān)andthe‘creedof
inspiredlibertines’(madhhab-irindān),thosesamedoctrinesagainappear.
In the following chapter on ‘The Erotic Spirit: Love, Man and Satan in Ḥāfiẓ’s
Poetry’,AliAsgharSeyed-Gohrabdemonstrateshowamysticaltheoryoflovecan
bereconstructedfromḤāfiẓ’sDīvān.Ḥāfiẓ’srelianceontheIslamiccreationmythas
developedbythePersianSufimysticssuchasNajmad-DīnRāzīoverthepreceding
centuries, and his combination of bacchanalian imagery of wine and erotic love
poetrywithfamiliarQur’ānictraditionsandPersianSufidoctrines,enabledhimto
succeed‘ininterweavingthemysticalversionofthecreationmythwithaphiloso-
phyofearthlylove’.Ḥāfiẓ’suseofthetermlovecorrespondsentirelywithhispred-
ecessors such as Sanā’ī, ‘Aṭṭār and Niẓāmī, who were all influenced by Aḥmad
Ghazālī’s(d.520/1126)seminaltreatiseSavāniḥ,thefoundingtextoftheSchoolof
LoveinSufismandthetraditionoflovepoetryinPersian.Knowledgeoftheback-
ground of Sufi thought, argues Seyed-Gohrab – and, in particular, the ascetic
(zuhdiyyāt), bacchic (khamriyyāt) and antinomian (qalandariyyāt) themes in his
poetry–enrichesourexperienceofreadingḤāfiẓ’spoetry.
Leili Anvar, in her lovely chapter on ‘The Radiance of Epiphany: The Vision of
BeautyandLoveinḤāfiẓ’sPoemofPre-Eternity’,alsoemphasizesḤāfiẓ’sdebttothe
allusivepoeticeroticismofAḥmadGhazālī’sSavāniḥ.Thetrans-rationalnatureof
theexperienceofloveandtheimpossibilityofexpressingeroticexperiencespro-
saically,emphasizedbyGhazālī,madeḤāfiẓ’schoiceofpoetryasthelanguageof
lovetheperfectvehicleofexpression,butonewhichnecessarily–paradoxically–
remains elusive to rational analysis. Exploring Ḥāfiẓ’s conception of the Qur’ānic
theme(VII:172)ofthe‘DayofPre-Eternity’or‘DayoftheCovenant’(rūz-ialast)in
pre-eternity, in what she calls hisghazalof pre-eternity, her chapter explores a
numberofḤāfiẓ’skeythemes–Love,Beauty,Grief(theparadoxofjoyinpain)and
Longing–demonstratinghowhiseroticpoeticizationoftheseideashavetheirlit-
erarysourcesinthetoposofthereligionofloveinclassicalPersianpoetry.
SufismisthedominanttraditionofIslamicspiritualitythatinfluencedḤāfiẓand
themostsignificantsourceoftheimageryandsymbolisminhisDīvān.Forthisrea-
sonaseparatesectionofthisvolume(thethreechaptersinPartIII)isdevotedto
‘ḤāfiẓandthePersianSufiTradition’.
AfteralifetimeofstudyofḤāfiẓandthetranslationofhisentirepoeticoeuvre
intoFrench,CharlesHenrideFouchécourinhisopeningchapteron‘Ḥāfiẓandthe
Sufi’ underlines the importance of the fourteenth century as an epoch in Islamic00c_Hafiz_i-xxvi8/4/1011:11Pagexxii
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry