Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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ofthefourabove-mentionedpoemsofal-WalīdII,Sa‘dīandSanā’īsurelyrequires

thatwereconsiderandrejectthethesisthatPersianandArabiclacktheAlbagenre.

Exceptforthefactthattheword‘Alba’doesnotofcourserepriseinthesepoems

(though,inthefirstofthetwoSanā’īpoemsquotedhere,twodifferentPersian

equivalentsfor‘dawn’doinfactappear:hangām-isaḥarandbāmdādān)–mostofthe

definingcharacteristicsofWoledge’scanonaremanifestlyevidenthere,andthus

qualifythepoemsasbelongingthematicallytothisinternationalgenre.

AfewfurtherexamplesfromthefinallinesofotherghazalsbySanā’īwillbe

offeredhereasfurtherevidencethatthistypeofendingisindeedpartofaconven-

tionaltoposofwhichSanā’īwasconsciouslyaware,andwhichremainedpresentin

thepoet’smind,evenwherethepoemisnotentirelystructuredlikethePersian

Albasabove.Fromghazal173,line7,inapoemwhichlacksatakhalluṣ,wefindthe

poet,intheabsenceoftheBeloved,enjoyingthepresenceofhisorherphantom

image,andnotwantingthedaytodispelthispleasantreverie:

Bāhijr-ituharshabzipay-ivaṣl-itugūyam:

‘Yārabtushab-i‛āshiquma‛shūqmakunrūz’.

Inyourabsenceeverynight,

insearchofunion

Iproclaim:

OLord,

donotturn

thenightof

theloverandbeloved

to

day.

Thefollowingcomplaintoftheall-too-swiftarrivalofthemorningthatconcludesthe

lovers’meetingcomesfromSanā’ī’sQaṣīda77(whichis,however,infact,aghazal):

V-ānshabkimarābūdbikhalvatbar-iūbār

pīshazshab-imanṣubḥzikuhsārbarāmad.

Andthatnight,

whenIhadmyvisitwithhim

allalone,

beforemynightwasthrough

themorningrose

abovethemountains.

And,finally,fromthelastthreelinesofanine-lineghazal(Mudarris-iRaḍavī,Qaṣīda
153),wefindthetakhalluṣintroducingamonologuedeliveredtotheBelovedat

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry