 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
PREFACE TO ORIGINAL DIVAN OF HAFIZ BY HIS FRIEND AND EDITOR MUHAMMAD GULANDAM
Praise beyond limit and salutations beyond number and measureless thanks to the Almighty whose will and pleasure permits the collection of the divan of the preservers of the riches, by the sultan’s order, the unique one whose raising of the building of the seven heavens is the sign of his know-ing knowledge without cause, the one of good judgement who made the sugar-chewing parrot of human speech, with joyful grace facing the mirror of contemplation of the brides of meaning, say, ‘There is magic in language’: the All-Knowing who brought the story-telling, sweet-voiced nightingale of the tongue to sing- in the slender cage of the mouth with strength and intelligence: ‘there is wisdom in poetry’.
Countless strung jewels of prayers in verse without end and strewn numerous flowers of salutations in prose without conclusion are offered before the triumphant, grace-filled soul and the expanded chest of the eloquent chief, whose exhilarating, soul-increasing voice called, ‘I am the most eloquent of the Arabs and others in hearing the inhabitants of the dusty earth and angels of the green tent’, and from the reviving smell of the breeze of the noble spirit, ‘that Holy Spirit enters and inspires heart with understanding’, of the living soul’s palate he made hearts of both worlds become perfumed and tips of curls of brides of language with help of, ‘Didn’t I bring the Koran and its model is with him’. He, adorned by beauty of his eloquence, decorated neck and ears of treasures of hearts with pearls of soul-increasing help and miraculous, rare and precious gems: ‘I brought the perfected collection of discourses’, by his intelligent words, I mean his excellency the messenger of highest prophecy, lord of the realms of wisdom, preface of the eloquent book, the truth of the proof of ‘sad, and the Koran, possessing all-praise’ (Koran xxxviii, 1): the owner of the divan of, ‘and we haven’t taught him poetry’ (xxxvi, 69): the one who is the head of honour on the line of prophets, the first couplet of the poem of the holy and pure, Mohammed, the chosen: to him, the best of prayers and perfect greetings of the blessed and the pious ...
And let the immaculate spirits and pious bodies of the members of the household of his descendents and friends and notable and famous men and lovers be in boundless time and endless salutations, for they placed the saddle of adornment on the elegantly-gaited horse of expression and on the nimble-footed horse of allegories and metaphors and sped into the arena of expression and with polo-stick of eloquence and fluency of speech they seized the ball of artistic and masterful language from the best preachers and literary men of near and far, so that they made the famous call of the prophetic gift and echoed the call of the voice of majesty: ‘Mohammed is the messenger of God and those with him are strongly against the unbelievers’ (xlviii, 29), reach ears of intellect of the eloquent speakers of the ends of the world and lecturers of confines of the nation. The spear of language’s tongue and sword of articulation of ‘and as for the poets, those going astray follow them’ (xxvi, 224), in awe of the splendour of prophecy, remaining in the sheath of idleness and bluntness. The most-famous among the line of fighters:
and in time of confrontation, from opposing and resisting they covered the face of controversy with the shield of helplessness and lamentation because ‘they couldn’t produce the same even if some were helping the others’ (xviii, 88).
Because the money-changers of the market of eloquence and the jewel-appraisers of the day of the bazaar of erudition and perfection, the notables of the realm of speech and champion riders of the arena of penetrating intelligence, travellers on the roads of verse and prose and kings of the countries of the subtitles of poetry are not hidden because the jewel of speech in its essence is most valuable and pure in itself is extremely costly. In the shop of existence one cannot purchase anything more valuable and in the bazaar of the ages one can’t see any goods more exalted ... a greater amount of money than that never comes to the intellect’s banker, and an image more beautiful doesn’t show its face through imagination’s veil to thought’s painter. Nobody knows except those perfectly wise the great worth and significance of this royal pearl and none can know the importance of this genuine gold except the wise appraiser of jewels:
And speech is a field that one can’t traverse except with racehorses of understanding and a balance which one can’t lift except with hands of the experts of eloquence. However, the different styles of speech and the distinct kinds of compounds of prose and verse are countless and the disparity of states of the eloquent and separate degrees of the artful may be according to the circumstances of souls and talents and observance of conformity to customs and habits, and certainly it is said: isn’t it eloquence that relaxes pen’s rein and bridle and enlivens the betting of words and its race course: eloquence, which express the heart of the matter by the lucid words of men and abode of unique and meaningful things. Any skilful poet who arrives at the depth of this point and comes to realize the truth of this matter, the expression of his phrases will be bright and beauty of his words will be fresh, and he will eventually reach where a couplet will be a substitute for a kasida and a ghazal of his will take the place of a divan and from a kit’a a kingdom will be given, and to a ruba’i will come the tribute of one quarter of the world:
And now to move on without any extravagant ceremony to the pen-name of those words and the subject of these introductions, the one owner of the attributes: the lord, the greatest master, the fortunate, the late, the martyr, the glory of the learned, master of the expert writers, the mine of spiritual subtleties, the treasury of divine knowledge, the sun (shams) of the community and of the faith (ud-din): Mohammed, the Hafiz of Shiraz, may God preserve his tomb and promote his rank in heaven for his lustrous, delectable poetry is the envy of the fountain of life and those daughters of his thoughts are the object of envy for the beautiful huris* and paris* of paradise. His heart-ravishing couplets obliterate Sahban’s words and his exquisite creations cause neglect of Hassan’s beneficence:
With beautifully real words he sweetened the palates of ordinary people and with profound meanings he salted mouths of the upper class. By him were opened doors of understanding to the leaders of the exoteric and also from him enlightened matters were increased for those masters of the esoteric. At each event he said words that befit the occasion and for every delicate meaning he created such rare expressions. He said many real things in few words and he comprehended many kinds of innovations in his compositions. Sometimes he led the intoxicated of love’s alleyway on the road of mutual love and flirting and smashed the glass of their patience on the rock of impermanence:
Sometimes he encouraged dreg-drainers to be devotedly attending upon the Perfect Master in companionship in the holy place of the Winehouse:
The overflowing of the clear stream of his fine nature which is like ‘the sweet easily-swallowed, pleasant to drink’ (Koran xxxv, 12), has extended and is spreading to those low and high and the benefit of his excellent and bountiful words which are ‘like a niche within it is a lamp’ (xxiv, 35), has illuminated all far and near. The legitimate magic of his nature tied a knot in the tongue of eloquence and poetic necklace of his thought is surpassing the merchandise of sea and the mine. Drops of the flowing fountains of his brilliant genius and worth water the gardens of meetings of friends with that pure flowing water and ‘everything’s from water, it makes everything alive’ (xxi, 30). The breeze from the rosegarden of his intelligence in the gardens of souls spreads the meaning of the verse, ‘Contemplate the works of God’s mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death’ (xxx, 50). His eloquent words like the breathing of Christ have given life to dead hearts and the drops from his Khizer-endowed* (for explanation see footnote) pen has made a miracle appear on the throne of language. See how the spring wind has acquired such fineness from the breeze of his virtues and cheeks of the hyacinth and the wild rose have taken beauty and fresh tenderness from his lustrous poetry, and the form of the box-tree and the straightness of the free cypress have received elegance, symmetry and motion from the firmness of his mind’s judgement:
Without pretence he strung on the thread of poetry every pearl and gem existing in the jewelry shop of nature for the sake of the elegant beauty of the virgins of his heart’s harem ... so, when he saw himself in the clothing and robes of expression and ornament of metaphor, he opened his tongue and claimed:
He contended with proponents and opponents with style and grace and he participated in gathering and parties of the common folk and the upper-class and in the private meetings of religious and political figures, king and beggars and the learned and the uneducated and in each place and opportunity he caused tumult and stirred up excitement and enthusiasm.
And he was safe and secure from the flaw of skepticism and the disturbance of sensuality ... and the hand of misappropriation never touched his reputation’s skirt and no one could lift the finger of betrayal and fraud and the cheek of ecstasies was protected from corruption of reproach and blame, guarding piety and preserving sincerity, as he said:
Then in a short time the loaded camels of his world-conquering ghazals reached the borders of Turkistan and India and caravans of his heart-pleasing words quickly traveled the districts and frontiers of both Iraks and Azerbaijan. The strong wind blows and the much-traveled man goes gently with the ease of the Messiah, the journey of stories goes forward and imagination travels by night. The Sufis without his stirring ghazals wouldn’t become excited and the parties of wine-lovers without the sweetmeats of his taste-arousing, delightful speech wouldn’t come alive:
However, because of diligent study of the Koran and attention to piety and doing good works and his investigation of the Kashaf * (see footnotes for explantation of these works)and Miftah, and reading the Matali’ and Misbah and his acquisition and scrutiny of the canons of literature and the appreciation of the works of the divans of the Arab poets ... he did not finish collecting his scattered ghazals and he was never busy in assembling and fixing their couplets. He, who has written these pages, (may God forgive me whatever has passed), during college and at lectures with the refuge-of-religion, our master and lord, the teacher of mankind, adornment of the community and religion, slave of God, Haji Kivam (may God exalt his rank to the summit of the highest heaven): many times when we were talking together, he would often mention in the course of our conversation that Hafiz should tie these precious gems of spiritual profit into one necklace and that he should join on one thread these rare gems and pearls so that it would become an elegant and magnificent necklace of the people of the time and a belt and scent-box of the brides of all times. That excellent one, (Hafiz) had entrusted the raising of this building to the inappropriateness of circumstances and fortune and offered as an excuse the hostility and treachery of the people of that time until in the year 792 A.H./1390 A.D. he gave his life to the guardians of the eternal fate and to be carried from the cloak of existence out of the narrow passage of death. His pure soul joined those dwellers of the higher world and he became a companion of the beautiful black-eyed huris of Paradise:
And after some time the old, just claims of companionship and the necessities of the promises of friendship with him and the encouragement of sincere loved ones and the instigation of loyal friends, (from brilliance of whose faces the page of ecstasy is given beauty and by the beauty of whose education the goods of all accomplishments receive perfection), inspired and made this poor one, me, to arrange this book, the Divan, and assemble it and organize it eventually, like this. My hope is that by the benevolence of the Giver of Existence and the Source of the Good and Generosity, this author and copier and collector and hearer, in showing kindness for these difficult times and in the course of this study, would be blessed with a new life and limitless joy and that He would let the mistakes pass by the excellence of the content and sweet grace of the perfection, and so he gives a proper submission to the Omnipotent." _______________________ Notes *Khizer: Who or what Khizer was and is has been almost totally misunderstood by authors and commentators of Sufism and Persian literature and religious history. The first Qutub or Perfect Master, Adam, established an 'Office of Khizer' that goes with the subsequent roles of the Head of the Spiritual Hierarchy filled by the Qutub-e-Irshad or Chargeman Perfect Master of the Five Perfect Masters always on Earth ... of course with the coming of Rasool or Messiah (Avatar) this 'Office' becomes His responsibility. When one who has no Master and is a true seeker of God cries from the depth of his or her heart help the Head of the Hierarchy of the time utilizes this office and either through Universal Mind directs him to the Master ... or the Master takes form in the presence of the seeker as a youth or old man and advises him what to do next. So, as this 'Office' or 'Role' has been utilized by God in Human Form since Adam ... the incorrect view came about that Khizer was one particular person or Master ... seemingly immortal. Khizer is always available because God is always on Earth in human form and can always open the 'Office of Khizer' when needed. In fact anyone can be Khizer for anyone could be used by the Master as a means to bringing about this function's purpose. *abjad: The name given to an arithmetical arrangement of the alphabet, the letters of which have different powers from one to one thousand. *Kashif, Miftah, Matli, Misbah: The Kashaf is the famous commentary on the Koran by as-Zamakashari (d.1143), the Kashaf-e-Kashaf (Explaining the Explainer) that Hafiz was said to have annotated. The Miftah is the Miftahu' l-Anzar' (Key of the sciences or Encyclopaedia) of as-Sakkaki (d.1229). The Matli' is the Matli'u'l-Anzar of al-Bayadawi (d.1284). This Misbah is the Arabic grammer of al-Mutarrizi (d.1213). * Paris are handsome male angels of Paradise and huris are beautiful female angels of Paradise. Copyright Paul Smith 2005.
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|