Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

cultofḤāfiẓ’spopularity,allotherpoets’namescrouchintheshadow.^108 Itwould
seemthatduetotheexceptionallyhighcalibreofhispoetry,thewiseinheart
only confirm their own folly and mediocrity by daring to quibble with his
pronouncements:^109

Youwriterswhowritesuchbadpoems,why

DoyouenvyḤāfiẓsomuch?Hisgraceofspeech

ThatpeoplelovecomesentirelyfromGod.^110

Beyondthisundisputableconquestofhisreaders’heartandminds,whatisperhaps
evenremarkableisthateventhoughḤāfiẓbelongssquarelywithintheclassical
traditionofmedievalPersianliterature,todateno‘modern’poethasmanagedto
composepoetrymoreavant-gardethanhisverse,norevenfaintlyrivalhispopular-
ityinthemarketplaceofbelleslettres.^111 AsKhurramshāhīsoaptlyputit:

Ontheonehand,Ḥāfiẓappropriatedforhimselfthequintessenceofprevious

classicalArabicandPersianpoetryand,ontheotherhand,helaidtheweight-

iestburdenofobligationuponalllaterPersianpoetry.Eventhoughtodaywe

havecomealongandtotallychangedthestyleandformofpoetry,ourmod-

ernistPersianpoetrystillremainsalldeeplyaffectedbyandindebttoḤāfiẓ.

Forinstance,the‘IndianStyle’[sabk-ihindī]ofwritingpoetryisclearlyvisible

inmodernistpoetrybutinaslightlylessglaringmanner,ascanbeseeninthe

poems of modernist masters such as Amīrī Fīrūzkūhī [d. 1363/1984] and

Shahriyār[d.1367/1988],NūdharParang[d.1385/2006]andSīyih–andyetall

ofthemwriteinthestyleofḤāfiẓ.^112 ...Isometimesthinkthattheworldofthe

poetryofmodernistpoetssuchasSuhrābSihpihrī[d.1359/1980]andFurūkh

Farrukhzād[d.1345/1966]isnotanymoreintimateandneartousthanthe

worldofḤāfiẓ.ThereasonforthisisthatḤāfiẓisconcernedwithsupraliterary

issuesofenduringrelevance,whichareneitherexotic,hackneyedclichés,nor

expressedinalanguagealientothecontemporarymind.^113

WhiletheamountofstudiesdevotedtoḤāfiẓ’sghazalsprintedinPersianannuallyis
onlyaboutatenthoftheamountofscholarshipproducedonShakespeare’ssonnets
eachyear,^114 itiscertainlyblossoming.Inthelate1990saCentreforḤāfiẓStudiesin
Shīrāz(Markaz-i Ḥāfiẓ-shināsī),currentlypublishingitsownḤāfiẓ Research Review
(Ḥāfiẓ-pazūhishī),waslaunched.^115 Ḥāfiẓbibliographies,^116 dictionaries,treasuriesof
his poetic terminology, learned articles on him in Persian specialist literary
journals,nottomentioncountlessmonographsonḤāfiẓandmusic,^117 Ḥāfiẓand
astrology,Ḥāfiẓandphilosophy...appearinprintonanannualbasisinPersian-
speakinglands.FortheShīrāzīsage,theseason’sdifferenceandthepenaltyofman
isneverfeltinanytimeorplace.AndthereasonforthisliesintheḤāfiẓocentric
natureofclassicalPersianatecivilization.

ḤāfiẓintheSocio-historical,LiteraryandMysticalMilieuofMedievalPersia 15