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Love takes many forms and extents. Beginning from the love of the
self, to the love of family, of friends and companions, to the love of
the Other. Needless to say, everywhere this one affection rules the
planets of our tangible, utopian, materialistic, spiritual, and/or
internal lives.
Have you ever thought of the consequences of
interpreting love and its associations and discourses from Western
ideologies into those of the Afghan experience? Here is a point to
start. And who better to learn from, then the Sufi who embodies a kind of
drowned existence, fragments of which can be seen in all silhouettes
of "love," of varying depths and proportions.
The Fable of Hafiz and Love: a fragment
Hafiz was to make a bread delivery to the upper class area of the city
because the usual messenger was ill. It was his visit to the
mansion of Shakh-i-Nabat which marked the beginning of a journey into
God's realization for Hafiz.
While passing her window, Hafiz caught a glimpse of her beauty.
Shaki-i-Nabata was promised to a prince of the city, but despite this
fact, he fell hopelessly in love with her. Her presence intoxicated him to
such an extent that he could not sleep at night and he knew that she
could never belong to him. It was in the depth of this love that he
decided to undertake the "promise of Baba Kuhi."
Baba Kuhi, a Perfect Master from the past, had promised that the
recital of the Holy Quran for a continuous period of 40 days and
nights would lead to the answer of any prayer. So Hafiz began this
vigil and completed it successfully. On the night that he accomplished
his goal, the form of the angel Gabriel appeared to him.
Gabriel asked him for his heart's desire, but Hafiz had now been
transfixed by the angel's own beauty. Hafiz thought that if the angel
of God possesses such perfection, then surely God must be the ultimate.
He found that he personally wanted to experience such purity of sight
and expressed this to Gabriel.
The angel directed Hafiz to the house of Mohammed Attar and told him
to serve Attar for a period, at the end of which he would be sure to
get his wish. Attar himself was a master. After his experience
with Gabriel, Hafiz' love for Shakh-i-Nabat was more spiritually
enlightened, and reflected in his writing a kind of godly awareness.
His compositions expressed the love of the ultimate being, and the
longing to be one with it.
Shakh-i-Nabat, by this stage had lost her heart to him. She had heard
all the beauty he had composed in the name of his love but she knew it
was an unrealistic prayer.
Hafiz finally reached his dream of God's realization after serving Attar
for forty years. It was when his patience had worn thin, that he went
to Attar, and wept. He said to Attar, "What have I gained by being
your obedient deciple for nearly forty years?" Attar replied, "Be
patient and one day you will know" (Smith, 1990:13).
After this, Hafiz went into a self imposed "Chele-a-Nashini." He sat
in a circle for forty days just as he had done earlier in life. It
was on the fortieth night when Attar sent him Gabriel (his form), to
ask for what Hafiz desired.
Hafiz replied, "My only desire is to wait on the pleasure of my
Master's wish" (Smith, 1990:13).
It was before dawn's fresh face, when Hafiz left the circle and rushed
to Attar, where his master met him at door. He gave Hafiz a cup of
two year old wine, and granted Hafiz as God Realized.
After this, Hafiz wrote at least half of all his poems, although they no
longer were about the desire for the Beloved. Now, he wrote of his
unity with God. Many of the writings included teachings for his followers.
In early 1389, Hafiz' soul was freed from his body due to an illness
which had ailed him most of his life. At his funeral, there
was a dispute on how to bury him. The Ulama of the city and their
clergy, refused Hafiz an Islamic burial. Finally amongst these
arguments it was suggested that they let the poet himself speak.
The Clergy, now threatened by the fervor of the Hafiz supporters,
reluctantly agreed to the decision. Hafiz' poems were torn into
couplets, and placed in a large Urn. A small boy then selected one
couplet from it, which read :
"Don't you walk away from this graveside of Hafiz, because,
Although buried in mistakes, he is traveling to Paradise."
Even after death, the charm and magic of Hafiz was still alive, and it
was decided he would be buried in a tomb surrounded by roses, at the
foot of a cypress tree. Then it was true.
As Smith (1990:15) has stated, "The change of consciousness in the
world brought by Hafiz during his lifetime had been great, but the
influence on the world, and on art and poetry had only just begun and
we are still being greatly affected by it."
A Few Lines by Hafiz:
" In all of the form, the expression of the Divine you are,
The mirror of everything that's lovely and fine you are!
Nothing in this world can exist by itself without you;
Wherever we look we find that all we define: you are!"
Co-editor
Zaheda Ghani
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Copyright © 1999 Aftaabzad Publications. All Rights Reserved.
May not
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