Prolegomenonto the Studyof√Æfiæ
1– Socio-historicalandLiterary
Contexts: √Æfiæ inSh∞rÆz
LeonardLewisohn
Citédel’amour
When Ḥāfiẓ was born in the city of Shīrāz some time between 710/1310 and
720/1320,^1 theculturalepochintowhichourpoetsteppedwasoneoftherichestin
allhumanhistory.Asthesecondleadingculturalcapital(afterTabriz)ofmedieval
Persia,theartistic,intellectualandliterarybrillianceoffourteenth-centuryShīrāz
underMuẓaffaridruleisperhapsbestcomparabletofifteenth-centuryFlorence
underCosimoandLorenzodeMedici.Thepoetsandphilosopherswhothrivedin
thisintellectualcentreofsouth-westernFarseasilyrivalthelikesofMarsilioFicino,
Botticelli,MichelangeloandPicodeMirandelo,whoweretofillthecapitalcityof
ItalianTuscanyacenturylater.Forseveralcenturies,throughoutallthedomainsof
theIslamicworld,ShīrāzhadbeenrenownedasHouseofKnowledge(dāral-‘ilm),^2
the city vaunting its learned theologians, eloquent preachers, pious ascetics,
ecstaticSufis,eruditescholars,specialisttheologians,greatcalligraphers,famous
scientistsandadepthommes de lettres.Manyofthenativesofthecitystillfigure
as the central pillars of classical Islamic civilization. Shaykh Rūzbihān Baqlī
(d.606/1210),oneofthegreatestexponentsofparadoxicalexpressionandcertainly
themostoriginalauthorofworksonSufierotictheology,hadflourishedtherea
centurybeforeḤāfiẓ.Sa‛dīofShīrāz,thegreatestromanticandhumanistpoetin
thePersianlanguage,haddiedin691/1292,lessthanagenerationbeforeḤāfiẓ’s
birth, while the Illuminationist (Ishrāqī) philosopher Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī
(d.710/1311),authoroftheencyclopaediacworkDurratal-tājli-ghurratal-Dubāj,had
walkeditsstreetsafewyearsbeforehewasborn.
Thiscityof‘SaintsandPoets’,asArthurArberrycalledit,^3 wasespeciallyfamous
foritscollegesandseminaries,itsSuficentres(khānaqāhs)andmosques,manyof
whichhadlargeaccompanyinggardensandpossessedpropertiesattachedbychar-
itablebequesttotheirgrounds.Thepresenceoftheseinstitutions,eveniftheir
administratorswereoftenthannotcorrupt,^4 lentthetownapeculiarsacredambi-
ence in the popular imagination. In Shīrāz – claimed the fourteenth-century
MorrocanworldtravellerIbnBaṭṭūṭa,whovisitedthecityduringḤāfiẓ’slife–the