An Introduction to the Life of Hafiz
‘I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through—Listen to this music.’
Hafiz was born around the year 1320 c.e. His given name was Shams-ud-din Muhammad, and he wrote poetry under the pen name Hafiz, a title bestowed upon one who has memorized the Quran by heart. He was born in Shiraz, a famed garden city in what is modern-day Iran. Shiraz was spared the Mongol and Tartar invasions that passed through Persia, leaving it a culturally-blossoming, beautiful city that served as home to Hafiz for most of his life.
Legend holds that as a youth, Hafiz fell madly in love with a beautiful girl of a wealthy family. At the time, working as a baker’s assistant, Hafiz’s position was hopeless. So filled with longing, he composed love songs in expressed adoration of her beauty. The local people heard him singing his poems, and they were so beautiful and touching that the poems were repeated and became famous throughout Shiraz.
Yet Hafiz paid no attention, for he was focused on attaining the love of this beautiful girl. He undertook an arduous spiritual discipline that lasted forty days and forty nights. His task was to keep vigil each night at the tomb of a certain saint. He completed his discipline, and on daybreak on the fortieth day, was met by the angel Gabriel, who offered Hafiz one boon. Hafiz, upon seeing the splendor of God’s messenger, forgot all about the girl and exclaimed, ‘I want God!’
The angel Gabriel then directed Hafiz to a local spiritual master, Zayn al-Attar, and it was with this mystical teacher that Hafiz perfected his poetry and further sought the experience of the divine.
- To more fully encounter Hafiz, check out Daniel Ladinsky's masterful translations in 'The Gift,' 'I Heard God Laughing,' and 'A Year With Hafiz.'
Hafiz was born around the year 1320 c.e. His given name was Shams-ud-din Muhammad, and he wrote poetry under the pen name Hafiz, a title bestowed upon one who has memorized the Quran by heart. He was born in Shiraz, a famed garden city in what is modern-day Iran. Shiraz was spared the Mongol and Tartar invasions that passed through Persia, leaving it a culturally-blossoming, beautiful city that served as home to Hafiz for most of his life.
Legend holds that as a youth, Hafiz fell madly in love with a beautiful girl of a wealthy family. At the time, working as a baker’s assistant, Hafiz’s position was hopeless. So filled with longing, he composed love songs in expressed adoration of her beauty. The local people heard him singing his poems, and they were so beautiful and touching that the poems were repeated and became famous throughout Shiraz.
Yet Hafiz paid no attention, for he was focused on attaining the love of this beautiful girl. He undertook an arduous spiritual discipline that lasted forty days and forty nights. His task was to keep vigil each night at the tomb of a certain saint. He completed his discipline, and on daybreak on the fortieth day, was met by the angel Gabriel, who offered Hafiz one boon. Hafiz, upon seeing the splendor of God’s messenger, forgot all about the girl and exclaimed, ‘I want God!’
The angel Gabriel then directed Hafiz to a local spiritual master, Zayn al-Attar, and it was with this mystical teacher that Hafiz perfected his poetry and further sought the experience of the divine.
- To more fully encounter Hafiz, check out Daniel Ladinsky's masterful translations in 'The Gift,' 'I Heard God Laughing,' and 'A Year With Hafiz.'