Iran President Praises Hafez Universality, Idealism

Shiraz, Oct 20, IRNA --Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised here on Friday, Iranian Poet Hafez Shirazi poetry and the poet's universal idealistic views. He made the remarks at the 16th commemoration ceremony of Hafez in Shiraz, attended by many cultural activists as well as Germany and Tajikistan ambassadors to Iran. 'Hafez poetry is international because of its humane themes are beyond all types of selfishness including dogmatism, fanaticism, intolerance, prejudice and racism.' Pointing to Hafez perfectionist philosophy, Ahmadinejad referred to return of human being to its divine nature as well as purifying himself of materialistic ideals as some of the major aspects of Hafez poetry. 'In Hafez philosophy, hypocrisy and insincerity are major obstacles on the way of purification and perfectionism of human being; it is not surprising if Hafez have become a universal poet and is respected and loved all over the world; this is of course because he uses universal symbols to invite human being to share love with others and live with others in peace.' A congress commemorating the great Iranian classical poet, Hafez Shirazi, was also held on last Thursday in France to mark the poet’s birth anniversary (October 12). The conference was sponsored by Iran's cultural attaché in Paris and attended by Iranian and French researchers on Hafez, as well as the officials such as Iran's Ambassador to Paris Ali Ahani. A large number of cultured, educated Iranian and French intellectuals attended the congress. Seyyed Ali Musavi Garmarudi, an Iranian Hafez researcher, as well as the French translator of Hafez poems, Charles-Henri Fouchecour, were amongst the congress' lecturers. The congress focused on life, biography and thoughts of Hafez, as well as the content and structure of his poems. Addressing the event, the lecturers noted that peace, friendship and empathy are common concepts in classical Persian and French poetry, including the Hafez poetry. The participants emphasized in their lectures that Hafez was the poet of peace and love and condemned the recent provocative actions of production of an anti-Islam film and caricatures in US and France. Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafez Shirazi was born in the early 13th century in Shiraz, Fars province. He committed himself to studying multifarious sciences in his youth, through which he ventured into the sophisticated fields of theosophy, Qur’anic exegesis and classical Arab literature. He was given the name Hafez, which means memorizer, for he knew the holy Qur’an by heart. His splendid masterpiece ‘Divan’ is an anthology of his poems. The collection enjoys an exalted status in the annals of the Persian language and is cherished by all Iranians. His collected works composed of series of Persian poetry (Divan) are to be found in the homes of most people in Persia (Iran), Afghanistan and Tajikistan , 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. Themes of his ghazals are the beloved, faith, and exposing hypocrisy. His influence in the lives of Iranians can be found in 'Hafez readings, 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. Despite his profound impact on Persian life and culture and his enduring popularity and influence, few details of his life are known. 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. Two of the most highly regarded modern editions of Hafez' Divān are compiled by Moḥammad Qazvini and Qāsem Ḡani (495 ghazals) and by Parviz Natel Khanlari (486 ghazals). Hafez was acclaimed throughout the Muslim world during his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Baghdad to India. Today, he is the most popular poet in Iran. Most libraries in India, Pakistan, and Iran contain his Diwan. Much later, the work of Hafez 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.' 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, 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, and in the words of Hāfez scholar Iraj Bashiri.... 'there remains little hope from there for an authenticated divan.' Though Hafez’s poetry is influenced by Islam, he is widely respected by Hindus, Christians and others. October 12 is celebrated as Hafez Day in Iran. Hafez not only influenced in religious inquiry, but secular philosophers such as Engels./end