Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

224

Oragaininadifferentversefromthisghazal:

Namāzdarkham-iānabrūān-imiḥrābī

Kasīkunadkibikhūn-ijigarṭahāratkard.

Praystothoseeyebrows’mihrāb-likecurve

Onewhowashesforworshipinheart’sblood.^28

Fouchécourhereaptlycomments:‘Lavoûteestfaitedessourcilsdel’Aimé.Les
sourcilssontlemihrabdel’amant.’^29 Now,thispoetictraditionoftheBeloved’s
browsandcountenanceexplicitlyassimilatedtoamiḥrābisnomereliteraryconceit
butadrivingSufispiritualsymbol,^30 andfounditschiefvisualexpressioninfif-
teenth-andsixteenth-centuryPersianatepictorialart,intheconventionofrepre-
sentingLaylīHerself,anoutstandingfemalefocusoftajallīifevertherewasone,
seatedwithintheveryarchoftheprayer-nicheofthemosquewhereinQays,the
futureMajnūn,firstbeholdsHer.Whencalleduponin1494ADatthecourtofHerāt
toillustrateinNiẓāmī’sromancetheverymoment(encapsulatedinthepage’scal-
ligraphy)whenagustofwind‘blowstheVeilfromHerownBeauty’(Burqa‘zijamāl-
i khwīsh bar-dāsht),theartist(probablyBihzād)depictedhisLaylīensconcedwithin
theveryheartofthemiḥrāb,withaKoranicquotation(3:39)inscribedin‘tilework’
calligraphydirectlyaboveHer:

Wahuwaqā’im-unyuṣallīfī-l-miḥrāb

Uprighthestandethwhoprayethtowards[literally‘in’]themiḥrāb.

TheuprightdevoteeinthepaintingisyoungQayshimself,whobeholdsandrecog-
nizesthefemaletajallīinthemiḥrābanddipshisstylusintohisinkwelltowritehis
veryfirstmysticallovepoeminHerpraise:asthe‘Majnūn’,hewillofcoursebethe
archetypaldervishpoet,arôleandranktowhichḤāfiẓ,inturn,explicitlyclaims
succession.^31 Majnūn’sBelovedis,ofcourse,theLady.
TheLaylī-in-the-miḥrābmotifrecursinanumberofextantfifteenth-andsix-
teenth-centurypaintings,notonlyasdirectillustrationstoNiẓāmīorhisimitators,
but as individual album leaves. The version in the Soudavar collection by
MuḥammadīofHerāt,paintedinabout1565AD,isaninterestingvariantofan
earlierimage(nowintheHarvardFoggMuseum)drawninTabrīzinabout1540AD,
and attributed by S.C. Welch^32 to Sulṭān-Muḥammad’s son Mīrzā ‘Alī. In
Muḥammadī’s slightly later version, all the tradition’s pictorial and ultimately
poeticandmysticalconventionscometogether.
Muḥammadī’sLadyisaheavenlyQueen,asmadeclearbyHercrownandalso
evenbythekerchiefdanglingfromHersleeve(Islamicartalmostcertainlybor-
rowedthisattributeoftheroyalkerchief,graspedinthefistortuckedintothebelt,
fromthemappabrandishedbytheconsulandlaterevenbyemperorsinRomanand

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry