Hafez al-Assad
President of Syria
In office 22 February 1971 – 10 June 2000
Prime Minister	Abdul Rahman Kleifawi Mahmoud al-Ayyubi Muhammad Ali al-Halabi Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Mahmoud Zuabi Muhammad Mustafa Mero
Preceded by	Ahmad al-Khatib
Succeeded by	Abdul Halim Khaddam (Acting)
Prime Minister of Syria
In office 21 November 1970 – 3 April 1971
President	Ahmad al-Khatib
Preceded by	Nureddin al-Atassi
Succeeded by	Abdul Rahman Kleifawi
Secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
In office 1970 – 10 June 2000
Preceded by	Nureddin al-Atassi
Succeeded by	Bashar al-Assad
Secretary General of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party
In office 1970 – 10 June 2000
Preceded by	Unknown
Succeeded by	Abdullah al-Ahmar (de facto al-Assad is still de jure even if dead)
Minister of Defense
In office 1966–1972
Preceded by	Muhammad Umran
Succeeded by	Mustafa Tlass
Personal details
Born	Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad (1930-10-06)6 October 1930 Qardaha, French Mandate of Syria
Died	10 June 2000(2000-06-10) (aged 69) Damascus, Syria
Resting place	Qardaha, Syria
Political party	Arab Ba'ath Movement (1946–1947) Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) Damascus-based Ba'ath Party (1966–2000) (NPF)
Spouse(s)	Aniseh (née Makhluf)
Children	5
Religion	Alawi Shia Islam
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Syria
Service/branch	Syrian Air Force
Years of service	1955-1972
Rank	General
Commands	Commander of Syrian Air Force Minister of Defense

Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad or more commonly Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: حافظ الأسد‎ Ḥāfiẓ al-Asad, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was the President of Syria for three decades.

Born to a poor family of minority Alawite background, he served in the Syrian air force, before rising through the ranks of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and seizing power in the 1970 Corrective Revolution. He purged the party, introducing Alawite rule of Syria, who came to occupy leading positions in every sector of Syrian society.^[1]

On the one hand, Assad's rule consolidated the power of the central government, bringing stability after decades of coups and counter-coups,^[2] and continued foreign influence related to the cold war.^[3] His rule brought changes, including the 1973 constitution which stated that it guaranteed women's "equal status in society".^[4] Assad attempted to industrialize the country, and it was opened up to foreign markets. Oil was discovered, and some degree of the revenue invested in infrastructure, education, medicine, literacy and urban construction.^[5]

On the other hand, he also drew criticism for repression of his own people, in particular for ordering the 1982 Hama massacre, which has been described as "the single deadliest act by any Arab government against people in the modern Middle East"; as well as others such as the April 1981 Hama massacre, the Tadmor Prison massacre, the Siege of Aleppo, Tel al-Zaatar massacre and the October 13 massacre.^[6][7] Additionally, Human Rights groups have detailed thousands of extrajudicial executions he committed against opponents of his regime.^[8]

He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, current president, in 2000.

Early life[link]

Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad was born into a poor family, in the town of Qardaha in the Latakia province of western Syria (then a French Mandate) into a minority Alawite family. He was the first member of the Assad family to attend high school, Jules Jammal High School in Lattakia. He joined the Ba'ath Party in 1946 at the age of 16.^[9]

Air Force career[link]

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Hafez al-Assad (above) standing on the wing of a Fiat G.46-4B, with fellow cadets at the Syrian AF Academy outside Aleppo, 1952/51

Assad attended Homs Military Academy in 1952. In 1955, Assad graduated and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force, making him one of the first Alawis to join the air force. He became a combat and aerobatics display pilot,^{[citation needed]} flying the Gloster Meteor jet fighter as well as other types. He shot down a British plane during the Suez Operation.^[10] While at the Academy, he met Mustafa Tlass. In 1957, he was sent for additional training in the Soviet Union. While stationed in Cairo, he developed a pan-Arab ideology and came to believe that the U.A.R. concentrated too much power in the hands of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Assad was then assigned to a post in rural Egypt away from political activity. At the breakup of the union in 1961, Assad was briefly imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities.^{[citation needed]}

Political career[link]

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From 1961 to 1963 he worked at the Ministry of Sea Transportation while focusing on Ba'ath Party political activities. Assad and others planned the 1963 coup d'état, which took the Ba'ath Party to power. Following the coup, Assad returned to the Air Force in the rank of major. Syria was officially ruled by Amin Hafiz, a Sunni Muslim, but was in practice dominated by young Alawite Ba'athists.^{[citation needed]}

The following year, 1964, Assad jumped several ranks to become a general and was appointed to the Ba'ath Party's regional command. The following year, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. This military power allowed Assad, operating in conjunction with Salah Jadid, to overthrow the government of Amin Hafiz in 1966.^{[citation needed]}

In 1966, the neo-Ba'ath led by Jadid launched a coup d'état within the government and against the Ba'ath Party's national leadership led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. One of the key decisions of al-Assad and Jadid was to replace Aflaq with Zaki al-Arsuzi as the party's key ideologue. Assad became Minister of Defense and wielded considerable influence over government policy. However, there was tension between the dominant radical wing of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted an aggressive foreign policy and rapid social reform, and Assad's more pragmatic, military-based faction. After being discredited by the failure of the Syrian military in the Six-Day War in 1967, and enraged by the aborted Syrian intervention in the Jordanian-Palestinian Black September war, the government faced conflict within its ranks. By the time President Nureddin al-Atassi and the de facto leader, deputy secretary general of the Ba'ath Party Jadid, realized the threat and ordered Assad and Tlass be stripped of all party and government power, it was too late. Assad swiftly launched a bloodless intra-party coup, the Corrective Revolution of 1970. The party was purged, Atassi and Jadid jailed, and Assad loyalists installed in key posts throughout the government.

Presidency[link]

Al-Assad inherited a dictatorial government shaped by years of unstable military rule that was organized along one-party lines after the Ba'athist coup. He increased repression, operating a vast web of police informers and agents. He became the object of a state-sponsored cult of personality, which depicted him as a wise, just, and strong leader of Syria and of the Arab world in general.

The government of al-Assad initially achieved some popularity for bringing stability to the country, which had experienced dozens of attempted coups since 1948. He also implemented many social reforms and infrastructure projects, such as the Thawra (Revolution) dam on the Euphrates River. It was built with Soviet assistance, and still supplies much of Syria's electricity. Public schooling and other reforms were extended to larger segments of the population, and a rise in living standards occurred. The government's secularism meant that many members of religious minorities, such as the Alawites, Druze, and Christians, supported Assad, fearing a return to historic persecution under a Sunni Islamist successor government to Assad.

Hafez al-Assad (right). His brother Rifaat al-Assad (left)

Assad continued previous Ba'ath policies by overseeing massive increases in Syria's military strength (again with Soviet support) and by maintaining a strong Arab nationalist position. School curricula and the state-controlled media gave much attention to the glorious past of Syria and the Arabs, and portrayed al-Assad's government as the lone uncorrupted champion of the Arab nation against Western imperialism and aggression. This propaganda aimed to legitimize the government, but also to unify the diverse and fractured Syrian society, and instill a sense of national pride among the populace.

In 1979, a chain of assassinations took place in the artillery school in Aleppo. After almost a year, a member from the group believed to be behind the assassinations was injured and taken into custody by the Syrian intelligence system. He was identified as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood party. The party's goals were to eliminate all persons who had strong ties with the government or Ba'ath party, focusing on Ba'athists who were educated and had a good reputation within the government, or army high ranking members who were members of Assad's family or Alawites. It took Syrian intelligence a long time to penetrate the Muslim Brotherhood and diminish its power. In February 1982, Assad ordered the Syrian army to bombard the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood. In what became known as the Hama massacre, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people were killed, including about 1,000 soldiers an thousands of Islamist militants, members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1983, Assad suffered a heart attack and was confined to hospital. He named a six-man governing council to run the country in his absence, among them long-time Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass; Hafez-al Assad believed that they were less likely to try to seize power. Despite this, rumors spread that Assad was dead or nearly so, and indeed his condition was serious. In 1984, his brother Rifaat al-Assad attempted to use the security forces under his control to seize power. His Defense Company troops of some 50,000 men, complete with tanks and helicopters, began putting up roadblocks throughout Damascus, and tensions between Hafez loyalists and Rifaat supporters came close to all-out war. The stand-off was not ended until Hafez, still ill, rose from his bed to reassume power and speak to the nation. He transferred command of the Defense Company and, without formal accusations, shortly afterwards Rifaat was exiled to France.^[11]

Personality cult[link]

As one of his strategies to maintain power, Hafez developed a state-sponsored cult of personality.^[12] Portraits of him, often depicting him engaging in heroic activities, were placed in every public space. He named myriad numbers of places and institutions in Syria after himself, and other members of his family. At school, children were taught to sing songs of adulation about Hafez al-Assad. Teachers would begin each lesson with the song "Our eternal leader, Hafez al-Assad". In some cases, he portrayed himself with apparently divine properties. Sculptures and portraits depicted him alongside the prophet Mohammad, while, following her death, the government produced portraits of Assad's mother surrounded by a halo. Syrian officials were made to refer to him as the 'Sanctified one' (al-Muqaddas).^[13] This strategy of creating a cult of personality was pursued further by Hafez's son Bashar al-Assad.^[14]

Foreign policy[link]

Iraq[link]

Even though Iraq was ruled by another branch of the Ba'ath Party, Assad's relations with Saddam Hussein were extremely strained. Hostile rhetoric was intense, and until Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq was listed in Syrian passports as one of the two countries no Syrian citizen could visit (the other being Israel). But with the exception of a few border guard skirmishes and mutual support for cross-border raids by opposition groups, no heavy fighting broke out until 1991, when Syria joined the US-led UN coalition to expel Iraq's military forces from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. In that war, Assad contributed Syrian ground troops to the battlefront.

Israel[link]

Hafez al-Assad (right) with soldiers on the Golan front in October, 1973.

To a large extent, Al-Assad's foreign policy was shaped by Syria's attitude toward Israel. During his presidency, Syria played a major role in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The war is presented by the Syrian government as a victory, although by the end of the war the Israeli army had invaded large areas of Syria, and taken up positions 40 km from Damascus. However, through later negotiations Syria regained some territory that had been occupied in 1967 in the peace negotiations headed by Henry Kissinger. The Syrian government refused to recognize the State of Israel and referred to it as the "Zionist Entity." Only in the mid-1990s did Hafez moderate his country's policy towards Israel, as he realized the loss of Soviet support meant a different balance of power in the Middle East. Pressed by the United States, he engaged in negotiations on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, but these talks failed. Al-Assad believed that what constituted Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, were an integral part of "Southern Syria."^[15][16] Syria also took part in the 1982 Lebanon War.

Lebanon[link]

Syria deployed troops to Lebanon in 1976, officially in response to a request from the Lebanese government(by conspiracy) for Syrian military intervention during the Lebanese Civil War. It is alleged that the Syrian presence in Lebanon began earlier with its involvement in as-Saiqa, a Palestinian militia composed primarily of Syrians. The Arab League agreed to send a peacekeeping force mostly formed by Syrian troops. The initial goals were to save the Lebanese government from being overrun by the Left and the Palestinian militancy. Critics allege that this turned into an occupation by 1982, which is not disputed within the Lebanese community. The Syrian presence ended in 2005, due to UN resolution 1559, after the Rafiq Hariri assassination and the March 14 protests.

Palestinians[link]

Footage of Hafez al-Assad overseeing training of the Syrian army with his brother Rifaat and meeting political leaders

The hostile attitude to Israel meant vocal support for the Palestinians, but that did not translate into friendly relations with their organizations. In the 1970s, Al-Assad conducted military operations against Palestinian camps in Lebanon, including involvement in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, which drew strong criticism for his regime in the Arab world. Hafez al-Assad was always wary of independent Palestinian organizations, as he aimed to bring the Palestinian issue under Syrian control in order to use it as a political tool. He soon developed an implacable animosity towards Yassir Arafat's PLO, against which Syria fought bloody battles in Lebanon. As Arafat moved the PLO in a more moderate direction, seeking compromise with Israel, al-Assad feared regional isolation, and he resented the PLO underground's operations in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Arafat was depicted by Syria as a rogue madman and an American marionette, and after accusing him of supporting the Hama revolt, al-Assad backed the 1983 Abu Musa rebellion inside Arafat's Fatah-movement. A number of unsuccessful Syrian attempts to kill Arafat were also made.

Turkey[link]

The attitude of Hafez al-Assad towards Turkey was quite hostile while he was in power. During his rule, Syria–Turkey relations underwent some serious political crisis. He did not recognize the annexation of Hatay by Turkey, and all official maps continued to show the territory as part of Syria. Furthermore, Syria has supported the Kurdish separatist organization PKK, which aimed an armed struggle against Turkey for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, and allowed the PKK to recruit Syrian Kurds to fight against Turkey. He was blamed by Turkey for sheltering the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. However, this changed after Syria decided to force him out of the country in 1998 when Turkey threatened to invade Syria. After 1998, Syria started to crack down on remaining PKK networks and forged better ties with Turkey.^[17]

Death and succession[link]

The Assad family before the death of Bassel in 1994. At the front are Hafez al-Assad and his wife, Mrs Anisa Makhlouf. In the back row, from left to right, are Maher (1967 -), Bashar (1965 -), Bassel (1962 - 1994), Majid (1967 - 2009), and Bushra Assad (1960 -).

On 10 June 2000, at the age of 69, Hafez al-Assad died of pulmonary fibrosis. Hafez al-Assad is buried together with Basil in a mausoleum in his hometown of Qardaha.

See also[link]

• Assad family

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hafez al-Assad

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Hafez al-Assad

External links[link]

• President Hafez Al-Assad CV
• President Hafez Al-Assad Speeches & Interviews
• President Hafez Al-Assad Pictures

v t e Heads of state of Syria since 1922 al-Khalidi • Pierre-Alype* • Shariyari • al-Hasani • al-Abid • H. al-Atassi • B. al-Khatib • al-Azm* • al-Hasani • al-Ulshi* • al-Ayyubi • al-Quwatli • al-Za'im • H. al-Atassi • Selu† • Shishakli† • H. al-Atassi • al-Quwatli • Abdel Nasser • al-Kuzbari* • an-Nuss* • al-Kudsi • L. al-Atassi† • al-Hafiz† • N. al-Atassi • A. al-Khatib • H. al-Assad • Khaddam* • B. al-Assad *denotes acting     †military ruler

v t e Prime Ministers of Syria since 1920 Kingdom of Syria (1920) al-Rikabi H. al-Atassi* al-Durubi al-Ulshi French Mandate of Syria (1920-1946) post established 1932 H. al-Azm al-Hasani A. al-Ayyubi Mardam Bey al-Haffar al-Bukhari post vacant, 1939-41 K. al-Azm al-Hakim H. al-Barazi al-Ulshi al-Jabiri al-Khoury al-Jabiri Syrian Republic (1946-1958) al-Jabiri K. al-Azm* Mardam Bey K. al-Azm al-Za'im M. al-Barazi H. al-Atassi al-Kudsi K. al-Azm al-Kudsi K. al-Azm al-Hakim al-Khatib al-Dawalibi Selu Shishakli al-Asali al-Ghazzi al-Khoury al-Asali al-Ghazzi al-Asali United Arab Republic (1958-1961) Kuhala Sarraj Syrian Arab Republic (1961-) al-Kuzbari al-Nuss al-Dawalibi al-Azma K. al-Azm al-Bitar al-Hafiz al-Bitar al-Hafiz Zuaiyin al-Bitar Zuaiyin N. al-Atassi al-Assad Kleifawi M. al-Ayyubi Kleifawi al-Halabi al-Kasm Zuabi Mero al-Otari Safar * acting

Khwāja Shamsu d-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī (Persian: خواجه شمس‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی‎), known by his pen name Hāfez (1325/1326–1389/1390),^[1] was a Persian lyric poet. His collected works composed of series of Persian poetry (Divan) are to be found in the homes of most Persian speakers in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as elsewhere in the world, who learn his poems by heart and use them as proverbs and sayings to this day. His life and poems have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-fourteenth century Persian writing more than any other author.^[2][3]

Themes of his ghazals are the beloved, faith, and exposing hypocrisy. His influence in the lives of Iranians can be found in "Hafez readings" (fāl-e hāfez, Persian: فال حافظ‎), frequent use of his poems in Persian traditional music, visual art and Persian calligraphy. His tomb in Shiraz is visited often. Adaptations, imitations and translations of Hafez' poems exist in all major languages.

Life[link]

Hafez was born in Shiraz, modern Iran. Despite his profound effect on Persian life and culture and his enduring popularity and influence, few details of his life are known. Accounts of his early life rely upon traditional anecdotes. Early tazkiras (biographical sketches) mentioning Hafez are generally considered unreliable.^[4] The preface of his Divān, in which his early life is discussed, was written by an unknown contemporary of Hafez whose name may have been Moḥammad Golandām.^[5] Two of the most highly regarded modern editions of Hafez's Divān are compiled by Moḥammad Qazvini and Qāsem Ḡani (495 ghazals) and by Parviz Natil Khanlari (486 ghazals).^[6][7]

Modern scholars generally agree that Hafez was born either in 1315 or 1317; following an account by Jami 1390 is considered the year in which he died.^[5][8] Hafez was supported by patronage from several successive local regimes: Shah Abu Ishaq, who came to power while Hafez was in his teens; Timur at the end of his life; and even the strict ruler Shah Mubariz ud-Din Muhammad (Mubariz Muzaffar). Though his work flourished most under the twenty-seven year reign of Jalal ud-Din Shah Shuja (Shah Shuja),^[9] it is claimed Hāfez briefly fell out of favor with Shah Shuja for mocking inferior poets (Shah Shuja wrote poetry himself and may have taken the comments personally), forcing Hāfez to flee from Shiraz to Isfahan and Yazd, although no historical evidence of this is available.^[9] His mausoleum, Hāfezieh, is located in the Musalla Gardens of Shiraz.

Legends[link]

Divan of Hafez, with a Persian miniature at left and ghazals in nastaliq at right. Signed by Shah Qasem, 1617. National Museum of Iran, Tehran, Persia.

Many semi-miraculous mythical tales were woven around Hāfez after his death. It is said that by listening to his father's recitations Hāfez had accomplished the task of learning the Qur'an by heart at an early age (that is in fact the meaning of the word Hafez). At the same time Hāfez is said to have known by heart, the works of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Saadi, Farid ud-Din and Nizami.

According to one tradition, before meeting his patron, Hajji Zayn al-Attar, Hāfez had been working in a bakery, delivering bread to a wealthy quarter of the town. There he first saw Shakh-e Nabat, a woman of great beauty, to whom some of his poems are addressed. Ravished by her beauty, but knowing that his love for her would not be requited, he allegedly held his first mystic vigil in his desire to realize this union. During this he encountered a being of surpassing beauty who identified himself as an angel, and his further attempts at union became mystic; a pursuit of spiritual union with the divine. A Western parallel is that of Dante and Beatrice.

At age 60 he is said to have begun a Chilla-nashini, 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 Zayn al-Attar on what is known to be their fortieth anniversary and was offered a cup of wine. It was there where he is said to have attained "Cosmic Consciousness". Hāfez 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".

Although Hafez almost never traveled out of Shiraz, in one tale Tamerlane (Timur) angrily summoned Hāfez to account for one of his verses:

If that Shirazi Turk would take my heart in hand

I would remit Samarkand and Bukhārā for his/her Hindu mole.

Samarkand was Timur's capital and Bokhara was 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 would sell them for the black mole of some boy in Shiraz!" Hāfez, 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.^[9]

Works and influence[link]

Hafez was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world during his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Baghdad to India.^[9] Today, he is the most popular poet in Iran. Most libraries in India, Pakistan, and Iran contain his Diwan.^[6]

Much later, the work of Hāfez would leave a mark on such Western writers as Thoreau, Goethe, and Ralph Waldo Emerson -- the latter referring to him as "a poet's poet."^{[citation needed]} His work was first translated into English in 1771 by William Jones.

There is no definitive version of his collected works (or Dīvān); editions vary from 573 to 994 poems. In Iran, and Afghanistan,^[10] his collected works have come to be used as an aid to popular divination. Only since the 1940s has a sustained scholarly attempt - by Mas'ud Farzad, Qasim Ghani and others in Iran - been made to authenticate his work, and remove errors introduced by later copyists and censors. However, the reliability of such work has been questioned,^[11] and in the words of Hāfez scholar Iraj Bashiri.... "there remains little hope from there (i.e.: Iran) for an authenticated diwan".

Though Hāfez’s poetry is influenced by Islam, he is widely respected by Hindus, Christians and others. The Indian sage of Iranian descent Meher Baba, who syncretized elements of Sufism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Christian mysticism, recited Hāfez's poetry until his dying day.^[12] October 12 is celebrated as Hafez Day in Iran.^[13]

Hafez, not only had influence in religious grounds, but beyond metaphysical fields philosophers such as Engles mentioned him, regardless of his materialistic world-view, for him, Hafez's still is pregnant with meanings. This shows Hafez profound explorations within human sentiment and experiments. In the text below, extracted from Engles' letter to Marx, we confront with his interest in Hafez:

It is, by the way, rather pleasing to read dissolute old Hafiz in the original language, which sounds quite passable and, in his grammar, old Sir William Jones likes to cite as examples dubious Persian jokes, subsequently translated into Greek verse in his Commentariis poeseos asiaticae, because even in Latin they seem to him too obscene. These commentaries, Jones’ Works, Vol. II, De Poesi erotica, will amuse you. Persian prose, on the other hand, is deadly dull. E.g. the Rauzât-us-safâ by the noble Mirkhond, who recounts the Persian epic in very flowery but vacuous language. Of Alexander the Great, he says that the name Iskander, in the Ionian language, is Akshid Rus (like Iskander, a corrupt version of Alexandros); it means much the same as filusuf, which derives from fila, love, and sufa, wisdom, ‘Iskander’ thus being synonymous with ‘friend of wisdom’.^[14]

Interpretation[link]

Detail of an illumination in a Persian manuscript of the Divan of Hafez, drawn in the 18th century; British Library, London.

The question of whether his work is to be interpreted literally, mystically or both, has been a source of concern and contention to western scholars.^[15] On the one hand, some of his early readers such as William Jones saw in him a conventional lyricist similar to European love poets such as Petrarch.^[16] Others such as Wilberforce Clarke saw him as purely a poet of didactic, ecstatic mysticism in the manner of Rumi, a view which modern scholarship has come to reject.^[17]

Divan of Hafez, Persian miniature, 1585.

This confusion stems from the fact that, early in Persian literary history, the poetic vocabulary was usurped by mystics who believed that the ineffable could be better approached in poetry than in prose. In composing poems of mystic content, they imbued every word and image with mystical undertones, thereby causing mysticism and lyricism to essentially converge into a single tradition. As a result, no fourteenth century Persian poet could write a lyrical poem without having a flavor of mysticism forced on it by the poetic vocabulary itself.^[18][19] While some poets, such as Ubayd Zakani, attempted to distance themselves from this fused mystical-lyrical tradition by writing satires, Hafez embraced the fusion and thrived on it. W.M. Thackston has said of this that Hafez "sang a rare blend of human and mystic love so balanced...that it is impossible to separate one from the other."^[20]

For this reason among others, the history of the translation of Hāfez has been a complicated one, and few translations into western languages have been wholly successful.

One of the figurative gestures for which he is most famous (and which is among the most difficult to translate) is īhām or artful punning. Thus a word such as gowhar which could mean both "essence, truth" and "pearl" would take on both meanings at once as in a phrase such as "a pearl/essential truth which was outside the shell of superficial existence".

Hafez often took advantage of the aforementioned lack of distinction between lyrical, mystical and panegyric writing by using highly intellectualized, elaborate metaphors and images so as to suggest multiple possible meanings. This may be illustrated via a couplet from the beginning of one of Hafez' poems.

Last night, from the cypress branch, the nightingale sang,
In Old Persian tones, the lesson of spiritual stations.

The cypress tree is a symbol both of the beloved and of a regal presence. The nightingale and birdsong evoke the traditional setting for human love. The "lessons of spiritual stations" suggest, obviously, a mystical undertone as well. (Though the word for "spiritual" could also be translated as "intrinsically meaningful.") Therefore, the words could signify at once a prince addressing his devoted followers, a lover courting a beloved and the reception of spiritual wisdom.^[21]

The Tomb of Hafez[link]

Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz.

Twenty years after his death, a tomb (the Hafezieh) was erected to honor Hafez in the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz. The current Mausolem was designed by André Godard, French archeologist and architect, in the late 1930s. Inside, Hafez's alabaster tombstone bears two of his poems inscribed upon it.

See also[link]

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Persian mysticism

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Hafez

• Peter Avery, The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz, 603 p. (Archetype, Cambridge, UK, 2007). ISBN 1-901383-09-1
  Note: This translation is based on Divān-e Hāfez, Volume 1, The Lyrics (Ghazals), edited by Parviz Natel-Khanlari (Tehran, Iran, 1362 AH/1983-4).
• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
• Will Durant, The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957
• Erkinov A. “Manuscripts of the works by classical Persian authors (Hāfiz, Jāmī, Bīdil): Quantitative Analysis of 17th-19th c. Central Asian Copies”. Iran: Questions et connaissances. Actes du IVe Congrès Européen des études iraniennes organisé par la Societas Iranologica Europaea, Paris, 6-10 Septembre 1999. vol. II: Périodes médiévale et moderne. [Cahiers de Studia Iranica. 26], M.Szuppe (ed.). Association pour l`avancement des études iraniennes-Peeters Press. Paris-Leiden, 2002, pp. 213–228.
• Hafez. The Green Sea of Heaven: Fifty ghazals from the Diwan of Hafiz. Trans. Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. White Cloud Press, 1995 ISBN 1-883991-06-4
• Hafez. The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door: Thirty Poems of Hafez. Trans. Robert Bly and Leonard Lewisohn. HarperCollins, 2008, p. 69. ISBN 978-0-06-113883-6
• Hafiz, Divan-i-Hafiz, translated by Henry Wiberforce-Clarke, Ibex Publishers, Inc., 2007. ISBN 0-936347-80-5
• Khorramshahi, Bahaʾ-al-Din (2002). "Hafez II: Life and Times". http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hafez-ii. Retrieved 25 July 2010. 
• Yarshater, Ehsan (2002). "Hafez I: An Overview". http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hafez-i. Retrieved 25 July 2010. 
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC 460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hafez

Poetry portal

English translations of Poetry by Hafez

• Hafez in English from Poems Found in Translation website
• Poems by Hafez from Blackcat Poems website
• Hafez Divan in Persian and English
• Life and Poetry of Hafez from "Hafiz on Love" website
• Hafez Poems translated G. Bell
• Selection of Love Poems by Hafez

Persian texts and resources

• Hafez Divan with readings in Persian
• Fall-e Hafez An online Flash application of his poems in Persian.
• Radio Programs on Hafez's life and poetry'

English language resources

• Hafiz, Shams al-Din Muhammad A Biography by Prof. Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota
• Comprehensive set of scholarly entries about Hafez, on the Encyclopædia Iranica (Columbia University).
• Divan-e-Hafez with English translation

German translations and compositions

• Viktor Ullmann "The Songbook of Hafis / Das Liederbuch des Hafis" ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre

Other

• Facebook Page for Hafez Selected poetry and images.
• Hafez Tomb in 2012 Nowruz Celebration; Photos.