Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi (also spelled Hafiz) (خواجه شمس‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی in Persian) was a Persian mystic and poet. He was born sometime between the years 1310-1337 in Shiraz , Persia (Iran), son of a certain Baha-ud-Din. His lyrical poems, ghazals, are noted for their beauty and bring to fruition the love, mystical, and early Sufi themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry.

1 Life
2 Hafez folk tales
3 Works and influence
4 Hafez in contemporary Persian (Iranian) culture
5 Translations of some verses
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

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Life

Very little credible information is known about Hafez's life, particularly its early part - there is a great deal of more or less mythical anecdote. Judging from his poetry, he must have had a good education, or else found the means to educate himself. Scholars generally agree on the following:

His father Baha-ud-Din is said to have been a coal merchant who died when Hafez was a child, leaving him and his mother in debt.

It seems probable that he met with Attar of Shiraz, a somewhat disreputable scholar, and became his disciple.

He is said to have later become a poet in the court of Abu Ishak, and so gained fame and influence in his hometown. It is possible that Hafez gained a position as teacher in a Qur'anic school at this time.

In his early 30's Mubariz Muzaffar captured Shiraz and seems to have ousted Hafez from his position. Hafez apparently regained his position for a brief span of time after Shah Shuja took his father Mubariz Muzaffar prisoner. But shortly after, Hafez was forced into self-imposed exile when rivals and religious characters he had criticized began slandering about him. Another possible cause of his disgrace can be seen in a love affair he had with a beautiful Turkish woman, Shakh-e Nabat. Hafez fled from Shiraz to Isfahan and Yazd for his own safety.

At the age of 52 Hafez once again regained his position at court, and possibly received a personal invitation from Shah Shuja, who pleaded with him to return. He obtained a more solid position after Shah Shuja's death, when Shah Shuja al-Din Muzaffar ascended the throne for a brief period, before being defeated and killed by Tamerlane.

When an old man, he apparently met Tamerlane to defend his poetry against charges of blasphemy.

It is generally believed that Hafez died at the age of 69. His tomb is located in the Musalla Gardens of Shiraz (referred to as Hafezieh).

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Hafez folk tales

Many semi-miraculous mythical tales were woven around Hafez after this death. Three examples are:-

It is said that, by listening to his father's recitations, Hafez had accomplished the task of memorizing the Qur'an at an early age. At the same time Hafez is said to have memorized the works of Molana (Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi), Sa'di, Attar, and Nezami.

According to one tradition, before meeting Attar, Hafez had been working in a local bakery. Hafez delivered bread to a wealthy quarter of the town where he saw Shakh-e Nabat, allegedly a woman of great beauty, to whom some of his poems are addressed.

At age 60 he is said to have begun a 40 day and night vigil by sitting in a circle which he had drawn for himself. On the 40th day he once again met with Attar on what is known to be their 40th anniversary and was offered a cup of wine. It was there where he is said to have attained 'Cosmic Consciousness'.

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Works and influence

There is no definitive version of his collected works (or diwan); editions vary from 573 to 994 poems. In Iran, his collected works have come to be used as an aid to popular divination.

Only since the 1940s has a sustained scholarly attempt - by Mas'ud Farzad, Qasim Ghani and others in Iran - been made to authenticate his work, and remove errors introduced by later copyists and censors. However, the reliability of such work has been questioned (Michael Hillmann in 'Rahnema-ye Ketab' No. 13 (1971), "Kusheshha-ye Jadid dar Shenakht-e Divan-e Sahih-e Hafez"), and in the words of Hafez scholar Iraj Bashiri.... "there remains little hope from there (i.e.: Iran) for an authenticated diwan".

Not much acclaimed in his own day and often exposed to the reproaches of orthodoxy, he greatly influenced subsequent Persian poets, and left his mark on such important Western writers as Goethe. His work was first translated into English in 1771 by William Jones. Few English translations of Hafiz have been truly successful. His work was written in what is now a dialect presenting archaic acceptations of some words, and teasing out the original meaning needs some care and scholarship in order to assign to each word a literal or symbolic meaning. Indeed, Hafiz often uses images, metaphores and allusions that imply the reader must have a very good cultural base.

The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master ISBN 0140195815, a collection of poems translated by Daniel Ladinsky and published in 1999, has been both wildly commercially successful and a source of some controversy. Although Landinsky does read Persian, critics such as Murat Nemet-Nejat [1], a prominent poet, essayist and translator of modern Turkish poetry, have asserted that his "translations" are largely inventions of Landinsky himself and as such are misrepresented. While this is difficult to substantiate, there is little question that Ladinsky's translations make no effort to retain the gazel form used by Hafez.

See also: Persian literature

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Hafez in contemporary Persian (Iranian) culture

The poems of Hafez are among the most popular Persian poems.They are frequently used in traditional Iranian music like works of Mohammad Reza Shajarian. Young adults have now tuned into Hafez's work, specially after a rock band called O-hum devoted iself to only using Hafez's lyrics. His poetry is also one of the sources of inspiration of Iran's leading painter Mahmoud Farshchian.

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Translations of some verses

The meaning behind the poetry of Hafiz must, as with all art, be decided by the patron and observer of the work. Though credited as being "The Interpreter of Mysteries," there remain many mysteries regarding Hafiz that have yet to be solved. As the poet himself had said, "Am I a sinner or a saint / which one shall it be? / Hafiz holds the secret of his own mystery."

If you drink wine, let a drop or two spill A sin that helps another, courageously fulfill.

Worry not, drink to the music of the harp Fate worries not when it is time to kill.

It is for your sake, my darling beloved That on my last day I take the bitter pill.

Whether heading for heaven or hell, angel or man, Self-denial, in any creed, is ill.

Designer of the world designed our path With no way out of the grave, save being still.

Daughter of the vine makes the mind creative, divine May the vine forever adorn every hill and rill.

Towards the tavern, Hafiz went forth with thrill Prayers of the godly heart, may your heart fill.

I said I long for thee

You said your sorrows will end.

Be my moon, rise up for me

Only if it will ascend.

I said, from lovers learn

How with compassion burn

Beauties, you said in return

Such common tricks transcend.

Your visions, I will oppose

My mind's paths, I will close

You said, this night-farer knows

Another way will descend.

With the fragrance of your hair

I'm lost in my world's affair

You said, if you care, you dare

On its guidance can depend.

I said hail to that fresh air

That the morning breeze may share

Cool is that breeze, you declare

With beloved's air may blend.

I said, your sweet and red wine

Granted no wishes of mine

You said, in service define

Your life, and your time spend.

I said, when will your kind heart

Thoughts of friendship start?

Said, speak not of this art

Until it's time for that trend.

I said, happiness and joy

Passing time will destroy.

Said, Hafiz, silence employ

Sorrows too will end my friend.

Translation by Shahriar Shahriari.

I have learned so much from God

That I can no longer call myself

a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me

That I can no longer call myself

a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely.

It has turned to ash and freed me

Of every concept and image my mind has ever known.

The work of Hafez is inspired by the Sufi teachings of his time, in which the love of youths and the drinking of (forbidden) wine are metaphors for ecstatic religious states that cannot be otherwise described.

What choices have I, if I should not fall in love with that child?

Mother Time does not possess a better son. (Divan, no 396)

My sweetheart is a beauty and a child, and I fear that in play one day

He will kill me miserably and he will not be accountable according to the holy law.

I have a fourteen year old idol, sweet and nimble

For whom the full moon is a willing slave.

His sweet lips have (still) the scent of milk

Even though the demeanor of his dark eyes drips blood. (Hafez, Divan, no 284)

And about the Magian baccha:

If the wine-serving magian boy would shine in this way

I will make a broom of my eyelashes to sweep the entrance of the tavern. (Divan, no 9)

Without the beloved’s face, the rose is not pleasant.

Without wine, spring is not pleasant.

The border of the sward and the air of the garden

Without the tulip cheek is not pleasant.

The dancing of the cypress, and the rapture of the rose,

Without the one thousand songs is not pleasant.

With the beloved, sugar of lip, rose of body,

Without kiss and embrace is not pleasant.

Every picture that reasons's hand depicteth,

Save the picture of the idol is not pleasant.

Hafez! the soul is a despicable coin:

For scattering, it is not pleasant.

Translation by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke

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References

E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-700-70406-X
Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K

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