Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Ḥāfiẓ’sRomanticImageryandLanguageofLove 267

ThiscompletelyinvertsthePsalmist’ssettingforjoyandgrief:‘Weepingmay

endureforanight,butjoycomesinthemorning.’Rather,ourpoetcomposesand

carousesatnightandweepsinthemorninglight.Thissignificantlinecomesinthe

penultimatepositionofaseven-lineghazal,whichcontraststhespiritualattraction

Ḥāfiẓfindsinthefragranceofmuskatthetavern,withthepreacher’sassumption

thatheissniffingthedoorofthetavern.Thesecanbeseenasthetwodifferent

sourcesfromwhichjoyandgriefcometothelovers.

Formsofthisverbmū’īdan(toweep)occuronlytwiceintheDīvān,andonlythis
onceinreferencetoḤāfiẓhimself,sothewordmaybearsomespecialweight
(thoughwemayalsonotethatawordofthisformisrequiredinthisrhymingposi-
tioninthepoem).Dawnisthetimeforsorrow,orthearticulationofsuffering,in
contrasttothenight,whichisthetimeforjoyandpoetry.Onemaynotethatthe
frequentcomparisonofthepoettoasweet-singingbirdmayinfluencethisimage;
thenightingalesingshiscourtshipsongs,beatinghisbreastwithhiswings,at
night.Itisworthrememberinghere,withḤusayn-‛AlīMallāḥ,^33 thatḥāfiẓisoften
thestage-nameorprofessionaldescriptionofasinger,thatissomeonewithagood
voice,andnotsimplysomeonewhoknowstheQur’ānbyheart.Confirmationfor
thiscomesintheIḥyāal-mulūk,wherethenamesofsixsingers(mughannī)aremen-
tioned,allofwhomsharethetitle‘ḥāfiẓ’.^34 Indeed,thistitleisstillusedforcertain
kindsofsingersinTajikistan.^35 SūdīofBosnia,inhiscommentaryontheDīvānof
Ḥāfiẓ(v.1,p.31),mentionsthatthepoethadagoodvoice.Itisalsoclearfromthe
pairingofqawlughazalwithmusiciansinthepoemsofḤāfiẓ(e.g.91:9,141:2,272:
4,370:8andtheMughannī-nāma,p.1058:5b)thathealludestherebytothefirstand
secondmovementsofthemusicalnawbaperformance,asexplainedageneration
afterhisdeathby‛Abdal-QādirMarāghī(d.838/1435),inwhichfirstArabicpoems
aresung(qawl)andthenPersiansongs(ghazal),thentarāna(arubā’ītextwhichis
sungineitherlanguage),andfinallyfurūdāsht(Arabiclyricsagain).So,itmaywell
bethatḤāfiẓnotonlymemorizedtheQur’ān,butcouldalsochantit,andhispoems,
inapleasingmanner.
Let’sfirstinventoryḤāfiẓ’slexiconofdawn.
Sa.haroccurs49timesintheDīvān,including47timesintheghazals.Itisthepri-
marywordfordawn,obviously,andwhenitoccursintheghazals,roughly25per
cent of the time, it is in the first line, thus creating the temporal setting.
Furthermore,thissememeappearsinotherlexicalformsintheghazals,suchas
saḥargah(eighttimes,threeinthefirstline),saḥargahān(once),saḥargahī(once),
saḥargāh(twice),saḥargāhān(twice,onceinthefirstline),saḥarī(eighttimes,never
inthefirstline),saḥar-khīzandsaḥar-khīzān,againneverinthefirstline.

.Sub.hoccurs46timesintheDīvān,42oftheminghazals,andinthefirstlinein
sevenofthoseghazals,orone-sixthofthetime.Thisgenericwordformorningis
oftenasymbolofhope,asin162:4:ṣubḥ-iumīdkishudmu‛takif-iparda-yighayb/gū
burūnāykikār-ishab-itārākharshud(‘tothemorningofhope,whichsatindevout
retreatbehindthecurtainoftheunseensay,comeout,forthelongdarknightis