Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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literature, repeatedly refers to the poems of Ḥāfiẓ for illustration. Jones opens his
essayOn The Mystical Poetry of The Persians And Hinduswiththestatement:

AFIGURATIVEmodeofexpressingthefervourofdevotion,ortheardentlove

of created spirits towards their beneficent Creator, has prevailed from time

immemorial inAsia; particularly among the Persian theists, both ancient ...

and modernSúfis, ... and their doctrines are also believed to be the source of

thatsublime,butpoetical,theology,whichglowsandsparklesinthewritings

ofoldAcademicks.^22

A page later, Jones quotes two passages from two renowned Western scholars: one
from Isaac Barrow (1630–77), the mathematician, Greek and classical scholar at
Cambridge and a significant theologian; the other from M. Jacques Necker
(1732–1804), Swiss financier and educationalist whose works were greatly admired
duringtheFrenchRevolution.ReferringtoBarrow,Joneswritesthathe

describesLoveas‘anaffectionorinclinationofthesoultowardanobject,pro-

ceedingfromanapprehensionandesteemofsomeexcellenceorconvenience

in it, as itsbeauty, worth, or utility, and producing, if it be absent, a propor-

tionabledesire,andconsequentlyanendeavour,toobtainsuchanapproxima-

tion to it, or union with it,...’.^23

JonesfurtherexplainsthatBarrow’sdescription

wasdesignedtocomprisethetenderloveoftheCreatortowardscreatedspir-

its.Thegreatphilosopherburstsforthinanotherplace...Thefollowingpane-

gyriconthepiousloveofhumansoulstowardtheAuthoroftheirhappiness:

‘Love is the sweetest and most delectable of all passions; and, when by the

conduct of wisdom it is directed in a rational way toward a worthy, congru-

ous,andattainableobject,itcannototherwisethanfilltheheartwithravish-

ing delight: such, in all respects superlatively such, is God ...our souls, from its

original instinct, vergeth toward him as its centre, and can have no rest, till it be fixed

onhim:healonecansatisfythevastcapacityofourminds,andfillourbound-

lessdesires.’^24

Jonesfurtherexplainsthat‘thispassage...differsonlyfromthemysticaltheologyof
theSúfisandYógis, as the flowers and fruits of Europe differ in scent and flavour
from those ofAsia, or as European differs fromAsiatickeloquence: the same strain,
inpoeticalmeasure,wouldriseuptotheodesofSPENCERonDivineLoveandBeauty,
andinahigherkeywithricherembellishments,tosongsofHAFIZandJAYADÉVA,
the raptures ofMasnavì, and the mysteries ofBhágavat.’ To emphasize the affinity
between the Eastern and Western ideals of mysticism Jones further quotes a long
passagefromNecker.Forthesakeofbrevity,onlyashortextractisgiven.Writing

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry