About Hafiz

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, mysticism, and early Sufi themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry. Moreover his poetry possessed elements of modern surrealism.

Legends of Hafez
Many semi-miraculous mythical tales were woven around Hafez after his death. Four of them are:

It is said that, by listening to his father's recitations, Hafez had accomplished the task of learning the Qur'an by heart, at an early age. At the same time Hafez is said to have known by heart, 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. In the knowledge that his love for her would not be requited and ravished by her beauty, he allegedly had his first mystic vigil in his desire to realize this union, whereupon, overcome by a being of a surpassing beauty (who identifies himself as an angel), he begins his mystic path of realization, in pursuit of spiritual union with the divine.

At age 60 he is said to have begun a Chilla-nashini (literally: 40 sitting/vigil), 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'. Hafez hints at this episode in one of his verses, where he advises the reader to attain 'clarity of wine' by letting it 'sit for 40 days'.
In one famous tale, "a tradition too pretty to be trusted" says a noted historian,[citation needed] the famed conqueror Timur the Lame angrily summoned Hafez to him to give him an explanation for one of his verses

اگر آن ترك شيرازى بدست‌آرد دل مارا

به خال هندويش بخشم سمرقند و بخارا را

Belle of Shiraz, grant me but love's demand,
And for your mole - that clinging grain of sand
Upon a cheek of pearl - Hafiz would give
All of Bokhara, all of Samarkand...

With Samarkand being Timur's capital and Bokhara his kingdom's finest city. "With the blows of my lustrous sword," Timur complained, "I have subjugated most of the habitable globe...to embellish Samarkand and Bokhara, the seats of my government; and you, miserable wretch, would sell them for the black mole of a Turk of Shiraz!". Hafez, so the tale goes, bowed deeply and replied "Alas, O Prince, it is this prodigality which is the cause of the misery in which you find me".

So surprised and pleased was Timur with this response that he dismissed Hafez with handsome gifts.
(Translated by Clarence Streit)


Sample Translations
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...
One of Hafez's greatest fondnesses was for wine, so when the Muzaffarids captured Shiraz in 1353 and declared prohibition it is no surprise that Hafez wrote a mournful elegy for the loss:

اگرچه باده فرح‌بخش و باد گل‌بيزست

به بانگ چنگ مخور مى، كه محتسب تيز است

Though wine gives delight, and the wind distills the perfume of the rose,
Drink not the wine to the strains of the harp, for the constable is alert.

در آستين مرقع باده پنهان كن

كه همچو چشم صراحي، زمانه خونريز است

به آب ديده بشوييم خرقه‌ها از مى

كه موسم ورع و روزگار پرهيز است

Hide the goblet in the sleeve of the patchwork cloak,
For the time, like the eye of the decanter, pours forth blood.
Wash the wine stain from your dervish cloak with tears,
For it is the season of piety, and the time for abstinence.
Translation by Edward Browne
Four years afterward, finding prohibition unfeasible for the wine-loving people of Shiraz, the ruler Shah Shuja repealed that act and for that reason Hafez immortalized his name in verse.

Of course, Hafez's fondness for wine was overshadowed by that of love:

گفتم غم تو دارم، گفتا غمت سرآيد

گفتم كه ماه من شو، گفتا اگر برآيد

I said I long for thee
You said your sorrows will end.
Be my moon, rise up for me
Only if it will ascend.

گفتم ز مهرورزان رسم وفا بياموز

گفتا ز خوبرويان اين كار كمتر آيد

I said, from lovers learn
How with compassion burn
Beauties, you said in return
Such common tricks transcend.

گفتم كه برخيالت راه نظر ببندم

گفتا كه شبروست او، از راه ديگر آيد

Your visions, I will oppose
My mind's paths, I will close
You said, this night-farer knows
Another way will descend.

گفتم كه بوى زلفت گمراه عالـمم كرد

گفتا اگر بدانى هم‌اوت رهبر آيد

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.

گفتم خوشا هوايى كز باد صبح خيزد

گفتا خنك نسيمى كز كوى دلبر آيد

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.

گفتم كه نوش لعلت ما را به آرزو كشت

گفتا تو بندگى كن، كو بنده‌پرور آمد

I said, your sweet and red wine
Granted no wishes of mine
You said, in service define
Your life, and your time spend.

گفتم دل رحيمت كى عزم صلح دارد

گفتا مگوى با كس تا وقت آن درآيد

I said, when will your kind heart
Thoughts of friendship start?
Said, speak not of this art
Until it's time for that trend.

گفتم زمان عشرت ديدى كه چون سرآمد؟

گفتا خموش حافظ كاين قصه هم سرآيد

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)

دلبرم شاهد و طفلست و به بازى روزى

بكشد زارم و در شرع نباشد گنهش

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.

ميچكد شير هنوز از لب همچون شكرش

گرچه در شيوه‌گرى هر مژه‌اش قتاليست

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:

گر چنين جلوه كند مغبچه‌ى باده‌فروش

خاكروب در ميخانه كنم مژگان را

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)

گل بى‌رخ يار خوش نباشد

بى‌باده بهار خوش نباشد

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

طرف چمن و طواف بستان

بى‌لاله‌عذار خوش نباشد

The border of the sward and the air of the garden
Without the tulip-cheeked is not pleasant.

رقصيدن سرو و حالت گل

بى صوت هزار خوش نباشد

The dancing of the cypress, and the rapture of the rose,
Without the nightingale's song is not pleasant.

با يار شكرلب گل‌اندام

بى‌بوس و كنار خوش نباشد

With the beloved, sugar of lip, rose of body,
Without kiss and embrace is not pleasant.

هر نقش كه دست عقل بندد

جز نقش نگار خوش نباشد

Every picture that reasons's hand depicteth,
Save the picture of the idol is not pleasant.

جان نقد محقر است حافظ

از بهر نثار خوش نباشد

Hafez! the soul is a despicable coin:
For sacrificing, it is not pleasant.
(Translation by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke)

The Tomb of Hafez
When Hafez died, controversy raged as to whether or not Hafez should be given a religious burial in light of his clearly hedonistic lifestyle and, at most times, unorthodox ways. His friends, however, convinced the authorities using Hafez's own poetry to allow it. Twenty years after his death, an elaborate tomb (the Hafezieh) was erected to honor Hafez in the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz. Inside, Hafez's alabaster tombstone bore one of his poems inscribed upon it - "profoundly religious at last" (Durant):

مژده‌ى وصل تو كو كز سر جان برخيزم

طاير قدسم و از دام جهان برخيزم

Where are the tidings of union? that I may arise-
Forth from the dust I will rise up to welcome thee!
My soul, like a homing bird, yearning for paradise,
Shall arise and soar, from the snares of the world set free.

به ولاى تو كه گر بنده‌ى خويشم خوانى

از سر خواجگى كون و مكان برخيزم

When the voice of thy love shall call me to be thy slave,
I shall rise to a greater far than the mastery
Of life and the living, time and the mortal span.

يارب از ابر هدايت برسان بارانى

پيشتر زانكه چو گردى ز ميان برخيزم

Pour down, O Lord! from the clouds of thy guiding grace,
The rain of a mercy that quickeneth on my grave,
Before, like dust that the wind bears from place to place,
I arise and flee beyond the knowledge of man.

بر سر تربت من با مى و مطرب بنشين

تا ببويت ز لحد رقص‌كنان برخيزم

When to my grave thou turnest thy blessed feet,
Wine and the lute thou shalt bring in thine hand to me;
Thy voice shall ring through the fold of my winding-sheet,
And I will arise and dance to thy minstrelsy.

گرچه پيرم، تو شبى تنگ درآغوشم كش

تا سحرگه ز كنار تو جوان برخيزم

Though I be old, clasp me one night to thy breast,
And I, when the dawn shall come to awaken me,
With the flush of youth on my cheek from thy bosom will rise.

خيز و بالا بنما اى بت شيرين‌حركات

كز سر جان و جهان دست‌فشان برخيزم

روز مرگم نفسى مهلت ديدار بده

تا چو حافظ ز سر جان و جهان برخيزم

Rise up! let mine eyes delight in thy stately grace!
Thou art the goal to which all men's endeavor has pressed,
And thou the idol of Hafez's worship; thy face
From the world and life shall bid him come forth and arise!
(Translation by Gertrude Bell)

Nowadays, the Hafezieh is visited by millions each year and regarded by countless people to be a veritable shrine.

(Source: Wikipedia )

 

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Teachings of Hafiz (English Translation)

Below is an English translation of Hafiz's work titled "Teachings of Hafiz" by Shamsuddin Mohammad Hafiz, Abridged and Translated by Gertrude Lowthian Bell, [1897].

Translator's Preface

Teachings of Hafiz

Ghazal 1	Ghazal 2	Ghazal 3	Ghazal 4	Ghazal 5	Ghazal 6	Ghazal 7	Ghazal 8	Ghazal 9	Ghazal 10
Ghazal 11	Ghazal 12	Ghazal 13	Ghazal 14	Ghazal 15	Ghazal 16	Ghazal 17	Ghazal 18	Ghazal 19	Ghazal 20
Ghazal 21	Ghazal 22	Ghazal 23	Ghazal 24	Ghazal 25	Ghazal 26	Ghazal 27	Ghazal 28	Ghazal 29	Ghazal 30
Ghazal 31	Ghazal 32	Ghazal 33	Ghazal 34	Ghazal 35	Ghazal 36	Ghazal 37	Ghazal 38	Ghazal 39	Ghazal 40
Ghazal 41	Ghazal 42	Ghazal 43	Ghazal 44	Ghazal 45	Ghazal 46	Ghazal 47	Ghazal 48	Ghazal 49	Ghazal 50

Notes

Ghazal 1	Ghazal 2	Ghazal 3	Ghazal 4	Ghazal 5	Ghazal 6	Ghazal 7	Ghazal 8	Ghazal 9	Ghazal 10
Ghazal 11	Ghazal 12	Ghazal 13	Ghazal 14	Ghazal 15	Ghazal 16	Ghazal 17	Ghazal 18	Ghazal 19	Ghazal 20
Ghazal 21	Ghazal 22	Ghazal 23	Ghazal 24	Ghazal 25	Ghazal 26	Ghazal 27	Ghazal 28	Ghazal 29	Ghazal 30
Ghazal 31	Ghazal 32	Ghazal 33	Ghazal 34	Ghazal 35	Ghazal 36	Ghazal 37	Ghazal 38	Ghazal 39	Ghazal 40
Ghazal 41	Ghazal 42	Ghazal 43	Ghazal 44	Ghazal 45	Ghazal 46	Ghazal 47	Ghazal 48	Ghazal 49	Ghazal 50

 

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Next: Translator's Preface