Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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arrive.Butasfarasloversareconcerned,inapoeticcontextdawnistheenemy,

becausethenightofunionisneverlongenough.

LewisandStern’snegativeassessmentoftheexistenceofdawnpoetry,perse,in

theArabictraditionwouldseemtobegreatlyunderminedbythe33excellent

examplestheydoproduceofjustsuchpoetry,including,forexample,thefollowing

poembytheUmayyadcaliph,al-WalīdII(reg.125–6/743–4)^17 :

Qāmatilayyabi-taqbīlintu‛āniqu-nī

rayya’l-‛iẓāmika-anna’l-miskafīfī-hā

Udkhulfadaytu-kalāyash‛urbi-nāaḥadun

nafsīli-nafsikamindā’intufaddī-hā

Bitnākadhālikalānawmun‛alāsururin

minshiddati’l-wajditudnī-nīwa-udnī-hā

Ḥattāidhāmābada’l-khayṭāni,qultula-hā:

ḥāna’l-firāqufa-kāda’l-ḥuznuyushjī-hā

Thumma’nṣaraftuwa-lamyash‛urbi-nāaḥadun

wa’llāhu‛annībi-ḥusni’l-fi‛liyajzī-hā.

Sherosetogreetmewithkisses,embracingme

Full-limbed,fragrantasifmuskwasinhermouth

‘Enter,mydearone,sothatnoneknowsofus

Iamyourransomagainstsuffering.’

Thuswelaythenight,withoutsleep,onourcouches[pillows]

Fromtheforceofpassion,sheclaspedme,andIclaspedher

Untilthetwothreadsappeared,^18 Isaidtoher:

‘Thetimeforpartinghascome,’andgriefalmostovercameher

ThenIlefther,andnoneknewofus[wasawareofus]

MayGodrewardherforhergooddeed.

BeyondtheseveralexamplesLewisandSterndoreproduce,manyotherexamples
ofanAlbatoposinAndalusianpoetryarefoundinIbnQūzmānofCordoba(d.
555/1160),includinghisZajal141,whichparodiesthetheme–alwaysanindication
thatsomethinghasbecomecanonicalinatradition.Thisandseveralotherexam-
ples led Dionisia Empaytaz de Croome to argue that ‘numerous dawn poems
intheHispano-Arabictradition...showlinkswithIberiandawnpoetry...dawn
partings,whichsomescholarswouldprefertokeepoutoftheIberianPeninsula
altogether,appearintheMuslimliteratureofSpainasfrequentlyastheAlbainOld
ProvençalPoetry.’^19
AsforthePersiantradition,Wickensarguesthat‘theAlbaformisnotofcommon
occurrence in Persian’ and is ‘in no sense a recognized poetical convention’.
However,heheldouthopethatonedaya‘considerableyieldofdawnpoems’might
befoundamongPersianpoetrymanuscripts,especiallyofthemysticaltradition,
insofarasthemajālisoftheSufilodgescommonlylastedthroughoutthenight.^20

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry