Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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whosePresenceintheHeartissoemphaticallyrecalledandcelebratedatthevery

endofthisghazal(line7).

Lines2–3:The‘Instant’anditsDemands

In these following verses, it is not immediately clear whether the speaker and
intended audience (apparently an undetermined singular ‘you’, effectively
identifiedwitheachengagedreader)isthesameastheopeningvoice(=Ḥāfiẓ’sown
persona?) at the very beginning of the poem. Certainly the tone of confidence and
particular emphasis of its spiritual teachings in these two lines closely echo the
advice of the wisepīr, Magus, and related spiritual guide-figures familiar from so
manyotherghazals.Whatmoreparticularlydistinguishesthismaturevoiceofwis-
domhereisitsimmediate,carefulcorrection–firsttheoretical,andthenintensely
practical – of the recurrent human illusions underlying those two initial pained
questionsofferedbythecritic/ascetic/pretenderattheendoftheopeningline.The
Sufi,accordingtoafamoustraditionalphrase,isthe‘childofthepresentinstant’(of
the Heart’swaqtor ‘eternal now’ that tellingly opens line 2 here), and his spiritual
WorkistoremainattentiveintheHeartwithGod,filledwiththeawarenessofeach
new instant of the ever-renewed creation – the essential point with which Ḥāfiẓ
concludesthispoem.Forthe‘veiled’ones(inlines5–7),ofcourse,allthemeanings
andrealitiesdescribedinscriptureareenvisagedas‘elsewhere’andinanimagined
‘anothertime’thanthisrealnow – anillusion(andself-delusion)soprofoundthat
the sad ascetic of thisghazal’s final line would happily trade wilful suffering and
self-imposedseparationforhisimaginedfuturereward.
The next line 3 then moves on to the more practical spiritual consequences of
thisinitialmetaphysicalreminder:‘Beconscious!’andcloselyattentivetothatsub-
tlelife-connection(‘asinglehair’)oftheSpirit-breathalwaysconnectingthehuman
HeartanditsCreatorateveryinstant.(Essentially,thiscommandsuggeststhesame
meaning and central human responsibility conveyed by the Arabic verbal impera-
tive formḥāfiẓ, as explained earlier in this chapter.) Above all, the second half of
line3remindsusthatthisinnerspiritualattentiveness,thatquintessentialhuman
‘Work’^11 and duty just highlighted in line 2, quickly reveals the ways that the real
hiddencauseofourapparentseparationfromtheBeloved–answeringthepoignant
initialqueryattheendofline1–liesnowherebutinourowndistractions,expec-
tationsanddeeperveilsofself-delusion.

Line4:HereandNow

Whateveritsspeakerandaudience,line4providesperfectlybalancedandcentrally
situated aesthetic continuation of thisghazal’s beatific opening half-line, which is
recalled and reaffirmed yet again in the contrasting terms of the poem’s closing
comparison(line7).Itiscertainlypossibletoreadthiscentralverseasadirectcon-
tinuation of the same voice in lines 2–3, poignantly – and no doubt somewhat

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry