Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Raysfromthecupandgobletovercloakedthemoon’sownlight!

TheMagichildren’sreddenedcheekswaylaidtheverysun!^13

The painter captures the difficult quintuple imagery, solar, winelike, kisslike,
archangelic,hence‘intellectual’(inthemedieval‘dawnlike’or‘illuminating’sense
ofsuccessiveemanatingarchangelicIntellectsfromthefootsteporthresholdof
God’sThrone,thatshinedownandso‘kiss’withtheirquickeninglightthesucces-
siveplanesofcreatedbeing),ofanotherofthetext’sextremelydemandingverses:

Khiradkihmulham-iGhaybast,bahr-ikasb-isharaf

Zibām-i‘arsh,sadashbūsabarjanābzada.

Intellect,theUnseenWorld’sinspirer,

tocatchitseverynobleness

onhigh

FromtherooftopoftheThrone,

Bestowedahundredkisses

Onitsedge.^14

Thepicture’spavilionis,indeed,thefamous‘TavernoftheMagi’,orrather,here,
the‘Enclosure’or‘PalaceoftheMagi’,Sarāy-i Mughān–asthepoem’sfirstline
states,butapavilionthatisalsoplantedlikea‘tent’(khayma)inthemidstofthe
‘ruinous’(kharāb)domainofthislowerillusoryworld,withtheexpecteddeliberate
wordplayonthePersianizedArabictermfor‘ruins’(kharābāt)thatcametomean
‘tavern’inPersianusage,oneofthemostrecurrentofalltheDīvān’simagesand
puns.Herethe‘ChiefMagus’orSufimaster–withhisvenerablesnowybeard,
seatedtowardsthelowerright,poursspiritualwinefromtruewisdom’sdecanter,
intothecupfromwhichavidlydrinksadisciple:

Dar-iSarāy-iMughānruftabūduābzada,

NishastaPīruṣalā’ībishaykhushābzada.

ThedoortotheMagi’sPalacewassweptandwateredclean

AndtheresattheElderMaster,pouringouthisFire

Tooldandyoungalike.^15

Sulṭān-Muḥammad’s careful composition, which the spirited movement of his
mordantlyobservedindividualcharactersstirstolife,showstheDivineLight’s
descent(nuzūl)fromthehigherplanesofBeingtothelower:inthecarefulhierar-
chyofIslamicizedneo-PlatonicthoughtandimageryuponwhichḤāfiẓsomuch
playsinverse.Itisthedescentofthe‘wine’-likeLight,loweredfromonhighlikea
decanterattheendofatāror‘string’(or‘rope’,ontheleft),ametaphorfortheall-
connectingandall-pervadingemanationofthedivinecreativeclarity,fromitsmost

Ḥāfiẓ’s Romantic Imagery and Language of Love 219