Hafez   

Ghazal 490

The Muslim’s Morrow

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In all Sufi gatherings no one matches my craziness [1]
Thrown around my Sufi gown, wine and the poems with sloppiness

My heart the mirror for that King, yet covered with dust [2]
I pray to the Lord asking for a companion enlightened with sightedness

I have repented about the hand of the beautiful wine seller [3]
Shan’t drink wine again unless in the presence of one with interestingness

Resent not if the Daffodil boasts about its eye to you [4]
Since the Divine visionaries seek not the one with blindness

This tale only told on the tongue of the candle [5]
Otherwise the moth is left with no speech capableness

Tearful brooks flowing down my gown that perchance
Whereupon their banks is planted some love with loftiness 

Bring me a goblet shaped as a ship since without my Love [6]
The corners of my eyes shores to the vast ocean of unhappiness

Tell me no tales of others since I am the Beloved-worshiper
Other than IT and the goblet I am left with no other receptiveness

I loved what a monk said once some early dawn
At the door of the tavern with tambourine and reed’s playfulness:

If being a Muslim is what Hafez is doing [7]
Alas! Is there a morrow after today? I wonder with sorrowfulness

End.
 



[1] “Dayr-e Moghān”  was translated into “Sufi gatherings”. ‘Dayr’ means monastery or place of worship and ‘Moghān’ (Magian in English) is the plural of ‘Mogh’ that means Zoroastrian. I checked with the Sajjadi’s Sufi Dictionary the term “Dayr-e Moghān” was also the name of a famous Sufi gathering place in Homs, Syria i.e. the term may have nothing to do with the Zoroastrians nor with the monastery it simply was the nickname of a place in Syria for Sufi conference. However so far as the poem goes the term is used to indicate a place where Sufis assemble and Hafez frequents without proper guidance and schooling, like a sloppy child throwing his things around and spills & wastes the precious wine. Really this is a conceptual state of mind rather than an actual place Hafez used to go.

[2] Human heart is a mirror, upon which reflects the Divine Light in form of Divine Names & Attributes. But if the heart is not pure, the mirror is not polished hence no reflection. Sufism is the art & science of polishing the heart.

In this stanza ‘King’ is the Regal Beloved and dust is the negligence, excess and sins of the Morid (Seeker). So Hafez prays for a teacher who can see the Divine Light or can see the dust on his heart and help Hafez to polish a fine mirror.

[3] Hafez has foolishly followed some wrong teachers and therefore he is repenting not to accept any wine, The Divine Love, from the hands of just anyone e.g. amateurs and fake Morshids (Guide) and so on.

[4] Daffodil in Sufism means the eye, usually the Beloved’s eye. However here it means a false eye, since the daffodil looks like having a pupil but really it cannot see. This is a paradigm about the false-teachers and charlatans. 

[5] In the old days people used candles in the night and it attracted moths who circled it for the light but often the moth would fly too close to the flame and burn up. So here Hafez is the moth that has no more life within him to say anything about love & loving, so he suggests that you listen to the candle. Perhaps the candle refers to the burning love of the Beloved, so go to the Beloved and ask about the Divine Love don’t ask Hafez his flightless wings already charred.

[6] In Hafez’s time there were goblets crafted resembling a ship.

[7] There are three key points in this part of the Hafez’s journey:

1.    He is seeking a teacher, for years he was looking for one, whose companionship can make his heart polished as to reflect the Divine Light.
2.    What is the meaning of being a Muslim? Look at my behavior is it in congruence with my speech? Is my heart and tongue in unison? Do my actions reflect my anticipated judgment after my death?
3.    Maybe non-Muslims have a point criticizing some of what I do; maybe I should listen to some of them to correct my Self.

The ‘morrow’ means the Day of Judgment, the monk is wondering why Hafez, being a Muslim, behaving more like a non-Muslim as if there is no tomorrow i.e. there is no Day of Reckoning! This is Hafez’s ultimate point of no return in his spiritual journey where he discovers he is straying from the Divine Path yet unable to see his Self going astray i.e. he is blind to his own faults.



© 2004-2002,  Dara O. Shayda