They Gave Me

(a ghazal by Hâfiz)

dush vaqt-e sahar az ghosseh najâtam dâdand
vandar ân zolmat-e shab âb-e hayâtam dâdand

Last night at the time of dawn they gave me liberation from sorrow,
and in that darkness of night, they gave me the Water of Life.

bi khvod az sha`sha`eh-ye partaw-e zâtam kardand
bâdeh az jâm-e tajalli-ye sefâtam dâdand

By the shining of the ray of the Divine Essence, they made me ecstatic.
They gave me wine from the cup of the theophany of the Divine Attributes.

cheh mobârak sahari bud o cheh farkhondeh shab
ân shab-e qadr keh in tâzeh barâtam dâdand

What a blessed dawn it was, and what a joyous night!
That Night of Power when they gave me this fresh entitlement.

ba`d azin ru-ye man o âyeneh-ye vasf-e jamâl
keh dar ânjâ khabar az jelveh-ye zâtam dâdand

After this, my face and the mirror of the quality of Beauty (are together),
for in there, they gave me news of the unveiling of the Divine Essence.

man agar kâmravâ gashtam o khvoshdel cheh `ajab
mostaheqq budam va inhâ beh-zakâtam dâdand

What is there to wonder at if I became fulfilled and happy at heart?
I was deserving, and they gave me these as alms.

hâtef ân ruz mozhdeh-ye in dawlat dâd
keh bedân jawr o jafâ sabr o sabâtam dâdand

The unseen messenger on that day gave me the good news of this fortune:
that in this injustice and tyranny they gave me patience and steadfastness.

in hameh shahd o shakar kaz sokhanam mi rizad
ajr-e sabrist kazin shâkh-e nabâtam dâdand

All this honey and sugar that pours from my speech
is the reward of patience for which they gave me the Stalk of Sugarcane.

hemmet-e hâfez o anfâs-e sahar khizân bud
keh ze band-e ghamm-e ayyâm najâtam dâdand

It was the inner endeavor of Hâfiz and the breathings of those who rise to pray at dawn
that, from the bonds of the sadness of the days, gave me liberation.

Comments. In Bayt 2 above, Hâfiz invokes the Divine Essence (al-Dhât) and the Divine Attributes or qualities (al-Sifât). In Islamic theology, the transcendent reality of Godhead (Allâh, Hû) is beyond human knowing, and is the ultimate referent for the qualities or Most Beautiful Names (al-Rahmân, al-Rahim, etc.) by which we know Him. The "theophany" (tajalli) of the Attributes recalls the theology of Ibn al-`Arabi: the Attributes are the means of God's manifesting Himself in creation. The pairing of Dhât and Sifât also comes in Bayt 4: the attributes of God are classified as either jamâl (beauty) or jalâl (majesty); here the poet is invoking the divine Source of all beauty.

Bayt 3, along with mention of Shab-e Qadr, implies the other sacred night, Shab-e Barât.
Barât usually means "an official document of entitlement," but also implies barâ’at, "innocence, vindication."

In Bayt 7 there is the mention of Shâkh-e Nabât, which some think may have been the name of Hâfiz's wife. E.G. Browne in his Literary History of Persia does not think so; in that case, being given the "stalk of sugarcane" could simply mean access to the Source of sweetness.

In Bayt 8 it is so beautiful the way he uses the imagery of breathing at dawn, for the Qur’ân, in Sûrat al-Takwir, invokes the dawn itself as something that breathes: wa-al-subhi idhâ tanaffas (81:18).

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