This is easily one of my favorite ghazals in the Persian language, and it shows us Hafiz at his most "trolly". Hafiz is out shock and scandalize the over-pious. This is why the term "Sufi" in his work is largely a term of abuse. As Ehsan Yarshater put it: he is out to expose the hypocrisy of all those who have set themselves up as guardians, judges, and examples of moral rectitude. To Hafez, they pose as moral and spiritual leaders while they secretly practice the sins they exhort others not to commit. Unless we realize the intensity of Hafez’s deep-rooted and passionate animosity towards the hypocrisy and perfidy of these figures, we will fail to appreciate much of his poetry.
This translation is dedicated to secularists of every stripe, everywhere. But most especially to secular Muslims.
Ghazal 195: Oh God Not The Takfiris Again
By Hafez
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Listen to what the harps and lutes
are telling us tonight:
are telling us tonight:
"They're on an infidel-hunt. Don't drink
unless you're out of sight."
They say: don't speak or hear innuendo
about what lovers do.
about what lovers do.
It's a hard teaching, a harsh sentence
they're giving me and you.
Only debased crude matter's come
From all their industry,
But they think themselves alchemists
Producing purity.
They smear the grace of lovers, strip
love of its dignity.
They scorn the old and tell the young
such things should never be1.
I stood outside, and was deceived
by a hundred swindling tales,
Wishing I knew just what went on
behind closed doors and veils.
They're giving the old Magian priests
trouble again. Do you
see what these novice punks are willing
to put those old men through?
A single glance can buy a hundred
honors for one's appeal.
The fault lies with the fair who make us
take such an unfair deal.
Some strive and struggle to be joined
unto the Friend in love.
And others freely let Fate be
sent to them from above.
In nutshell: don't count on the world
to have consistency.
It's all a workshop where all things
are changed up constantly.
DRINK WINE! Qur'an-wonks, mullahs, sheikhs,
inquisitors of God...
inquisitors of God...
Look close, and you'll see all of them
are ministers of fraud.
Notes:
1- The old and the young here would seem to be in reference to same-sex pederastic relationships between older men and adolescent boys of the sort familiar to westerners from Greco-Roman antiquity.
The Original:
دانی که چنگ و عود چه تقریر می‌کنند پنهان خورید باده که تكفیر می‌کنند
گویند رمز عشق مگویید و مشنوید مشکل حکایتیست که تقریر می‌کنند
جز قلبِ تیره هیچ نشد حاصل و هنوز باطل در این خیال که اِکسیر می‌کنند
ناموس عشق و رونق عشاق می‌برند عیب جوان و سرزنش پیر می‌کنند
ما از برون در شده مغرور صد فریب تا خود درون پرده چه تدبیر می‌کنند
تشویش وقت پیر مغان می‌دهند باز این سالکان نگر که چه با پیر می‌کنند
صد ملک دل به نیم نظر می‌توان خرید خوبان در این معامله تقصیر می‌کنند
قومی به جد و جهد نهادند وصل دوست قومی دگر حواله به تقدیر می‌کنند
فی الجمله اعتماد مکن بر ثبات دهر کاین کارخانه‌ایست که تغییر می‌کنند
می خور که شیخ و حافظ و مفتی و محتسب
چون نیک بنگری همه تزویر می‌کنند
Romanization:
Dānī ki čang o 'ūd či taqrīr mēkunand?
Pinhān xwarēd bāda, ki takfīr mēkunand.
Gōyand: ramz-i 'išq magōyēd o mašnawēd
Muškil hikāyatēst ki taqrīr mēkunand
Juz qalb-i tīra hēč našud hāsil u hanōz
bātil dar īn xiyāl ki iksīr mēkunand
Nāmūs-i 'išq o rawnaq-i 'uššāq mēbarand
'Ayb-i jawān o sarzanaš-i pīr mēkunand
Mā az birūn-i dar šuda maɣrūr-i sad farēb
Tā xwad darūn-i parda či tadbīr mēkunand
Tašwīš-i waqt-i pīr-i muɣān mēdahand bāz
Īn sālikān nigar ki či bā pīr mēkunand
Sad mulk-i dil ba nīm nazar mētawān xarīd
Xūbān dar īn mu'āmala taqsīr mēkunand
Qawmē ba jidd o jahd nahādand wasl-i dōst
Qawmē digar hawāla ba taqdīr mēkunand
Fī l-jumla i'timād makun bar sabāt-i dahr
Kīn kārxānaēst ki taɣyīr mēkunand
May xwar ki šayx o hāfiz o muftī o muhtasib
Čūn nēk bingarī hama tazwīr mēkunand
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