"The magician poet"- Sha'er e Sahir Hafez Shirazi
Hafez
i Shirazi was truly the sha'er e sahir(magician poet) who could
hypnotize people and actually did capture the hearts and minds of
numerous people of different ranks and from widely separated walks of
life.
Many people came up with their theories explaining the magical uniqueness of his poems. Some said it is due to his mastery of the "zaban e isharat" i.e. the art and the science of the language of allusion while others said it was the use of metaphors and equivocations to induce multiplicity of meanings and imagination. But still there is no unanimity in explaining why his poems remain fresh to this day, so fresh that still almost every Persian speaking man reads Divan i Hafez.
But the secret is quite open and evident. The reason why Mawlana Hafez's poetry touches the spirit of every man from every generation is that the central concept of his poetry has always been pure, unconditional and spiritual love and surrender. Every soul is thus attracted to Hafez because every soul wants freedom and Hafez gives the formula of liberating the spirit. And hence, his works are also known as "fal e Hafez" i.e. "the oracle book of Hafez". It is a tradition in Iran to open a random couplet from Divan i Hafiz in the morning to know how the day is going to be. His poems are not merely poems but a guiding light for every spirit looking for freedom from this material world.
"The lover's drunkenness begins with a drop of God's love which makes him forget the world. The more he drinks the closer he draws to his Beloved, and the more unworthy he feels of the Beloved's love; and he longs to sacrifice his very life at his Beloved's feet. He, too, does not know whether he sleeps on a bed or in a gutter, and becomes an object of ridicule to the world; but he rests in bliss, and God the Beloved takes care of his body and neither the elements nor disease can touch it."
Many people came up with their theories explaining the magical uniqueness of his poems. Some said it is due to his mastery of the "zaban e isharat" i.e. the art and the science of the language of allusion while others said it was the use of metaphors and equivocations to induce multiplicity of meanings and imagination. But still there is no unanimity in explaining why his poems remain fresh to this day, so fresh that still almost every Persian speaking man reads Divan i Hafez.
But the secret is quite open and evident. The reason why Mawlana Hafez's poetry touches the spirit of every man from every generation is that the central concept of his poetry has always been pure, unconditional and spiritual love and surrender. Every soul is thus attracted to Hafez because every soul wants freedom and Hafez gives the formula of liberating the spirit. And hence, his works are also known as "fal e Hafez" i.e. "the oracle book of Hafez". It is a tradition in Iran to open a random couplet from Divan i Hafiz in the morning to know how the day is going to be. His poems are not merely poems but a guiding light for every spirit looking for freedom from this material world.
"The lover's drunkenness begins with a drop of God's love which makes him forget the world. The more he drinks the closer he draws to his Beloved, and the more unworthy he feels of the Beloved's love; and he longs to sacrifice his very life at his Beloved's feet. He, too, does not know whether he sleeps on a bed or in a gutter, and becomes an object of ridicule to the world; but he rests in bliss, and God the Beloved takes care of his body and neither the elements nor disease can touch it."
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