is a ghazal by the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez of Shiraz. The poem is no. 184 in the edition of Hafez's works by Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941),Ganjoor, Hafez, ghazal 184. and 179 in the edition of Parviz Natel-Khānlari (2nd ed. 1983). It was made famous in English by a well-known translation by Gertrude Bell (1897): "Last night I dreamed that angels stood without / The tavern door and knocked".
In this clearly Sufic poem, Hafez describes a vision when he felt he was being given wine by angels. He expresses astonishment that he, despite his lowly status, should be given this privilege. In the second half of the poem he expresses his gratitude to God and makes a reference to the doctrine that total surrender to Love is the surest way to achieve knowledge of the Divine.
The interpretation of the part played by the angels in this poem and their role in the creation of Adam has been much debated by Hafez scholars.
The poem The text below is that of the edition of Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941) (but Parviz Natel-Khanlari's edition has the same order of verses). In the transcription, "x" represents the sound kh () as in Khayyam, the letters gheyn () and qāf () are both written as "q ", and the sign " ' " represents a glottal stop. "Overlong" syllables, that is, syllables which can take the place of a long plus a short syllable in the metre, are underlined.
For various recitations of the poem, see below.
1
Last night I saw angels knocking on the door of a wine-house; they kneaded Adam's clay and struck it into/with a cup.
2
The inhabitants of the sanctuary of modesty and abstinence of Heaven with me, a wayside beggar, drank intoxicating wine.
3
Heaven was not able to bear the weight of the Trust that was given to it; They cast the dice of the work in the name of me, who am crazy.
4
Give pardon to all the seventy-two warring sects; It is because they didn't see the truth, that they went by the way of fables.
5
Thanks be to God, that between Him and me there is now peace; The Sufis, dancing, have quaffed the cup of gratitude.
6
Fire is not that with whose flame the candle laughs; fire is that with which they burnt up the harvest of the moth.
7
No one like Hafez has removed the veil from the cheek of thought, since they began to comb the curls of hair of speech with a pen.
The metre
The metre is called ramal-e maxbūn ("hemmed ramal), since in contrast to the usual ramal with its feet of – u – –, all the feet except the first are "hemmed", that is, shortened, to u u – –. It is a catalectic metre since the last foot fa'ilātun lacks the final syllable and becomes fa'ilun.Thiesen, Finn (1982), A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody, p. 132.
In the scheme below, x = anceps (i.e. long or short syllable), u = a short syllable, and – = a long syllable:
| x u – – | u u – – | u u – – | u u – |
In Elwell-Sutton's system of Persian metres this metre is classified as 3.1.15. The final pair of short syllables is biceps, that is, the two short syllables may be replaced by a single long syllable; this occurs in about 35% of lines. The first syllable in this metre is long in about 80% of lines.Elwell-Sutton, L. P. (1976), The Persian Metres, pp. 128–129.
This metre is fairly common in classical Persian lyric poetry, and is used in 143 (27%) of the 530 poems of Hafez.Elwell-Sutton, L. P. (1976), The Persian Metres, p. 152.
Notes on individual verses Verse 1 The meaning of this verse has been much debated. Mahouzi (2018) writes concerning the first two verses:Mahouzi et al. (2018), p. 151. "These two verses have been controversial from many points of view, and there have been differences between Hafez scholars concerning their interpretation. These differences principally concern the role which the angels played in the creation of Man. The first question is how the angels had a role in creating Adam and kneading his mud. Were the angels not those same cavilling praise-singers who criticised God for creating Adam? If Love is what separates man from angels, what are the angels doing at the door of the tavern of Love (particularly at that time when Adam’s mud had not yet been kneaded)? What did Hafez mean by "striking Adam’s mud to a cup"? In addition, what is the meaning of an angel drinking wine with a human? Hafez specialists have given various interpretations of these lines each of which in turn has naturally added to the complications." (Translated from the Persian.)
Mahouzi quotes another verse of Hafez in which an angel is represented as standing at the door of the tavern, which makes it clear that the time being spoken about was that period when Adam was being created out of clay:Hafez ghazal 199 (QG) verse 7.Mahouzi (2018), p. 152.
O Angel, at the door of the tavern of Love say your praises, since in that place they are fermenting the clay of Adam!
The Iranian scholar Bahaoddin KhorramshahiCited by Seyed-Gohrab (2010), p. 116. explains that the first three couplets are a summary of chapter 4 of the book Mirsād al-'Ibād by the 13th-century Sufi philosopher Najm al-Din Razi. In this chapter Razi depicts the workshop of Creation as a tavern where the angels have brought the clay of Adam to the divine Vintner who will knead it into the shape of man.
According to one tradition, Adam's clay was fermented for forty days. Annemarie Schimmel explains: "Mowlana alludes not rarely to the tradition that God kneaded Adam's clay for forty days, and connects this kneading of the dough and its fermentation with the intoxication which still permeates man – verses echoed most perfectly by Hafez."Schimmel, Annemarie (1978/1993), The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi, p. 152.
Some Iranian Hafez scholars interpret the cup as a mould into which the clay from which Adam was created was placed.Mahouzi et al (2018), p. 153. This interpretation was followed by Herman Bicknell (1875) in his translation: "They shaped the clay of Adam, flung into moulds its weight."Bicknell (1875), p. 144.
Clarke (1891) writes that the angels hoped that God might "pour into their vessels of readiness the wine of love from the wine-house of the divine world"; but in this they were disappointed and the door was shut in their face.Clarke (1891), p. 406.
Gertrude Bell (1897), however, interprets the line as meaning that the angels moulded Adam's clay into a cup. Similarly Bly and Lewisohn translate: "They had kneaded the clay of Adam, And they threw the clay in the shape of a wine cup".Bly and Lewisohn (2008), p. 179. Gertrude Bell explains: "I think he means that man himself is the vessel into which divine love and wisdom are poured: and when he says that the angels first brought him wine, he means that by their example they showed him what it was to be intoxicated by the contemplation of God."Bell (1897), p. 147.
Arberry (1947) explains the verse as follows: "(Hafez) saw himself being served with wine by angels out of a cup fashioned of Adam's dust."Arberry (1947), p. 157. Most commentators, however, explain the lines as referring not to Adam's dust after he died, but to the clay from which his body was formed at the time of his creation by God.
Seif (2019) interprets the verse as meaning that the angels soaked Adam's clay in wine, to help it ferment.
Verse 2 The phrase , which occurs in verse 5, means "to quaff a cup".Steingass, Dictionary, p. 641. Some commentators interpret the phrase in this verse, , as having a similar meaning, namely that the angels drank wine with Hafez.Seif (2019). Clarke, however, interprets the verse as meaning that the angels "cast" the wine on Hafez, and Arberry translates "they sprinkled the wine of drunkenness over me"; Seif interprets the line as meaning "they softened me with wine".
The wine itself has a symbolic meaning in Sufism. Hafiz is said to have explained this verse as follows to the conqueror Tamerlane (although the story itself is probably not authentic):Quoted in Bashiri (1979).
"Hafiz said, 'O Amir, drinking wine is a Sufic idiom. It does not refer to drinking wine in the general sense. It alludes to the acquisition of knowledge from the perfect ones. However, in the same way that ordinary wine, the drinking of which is not allowed, causes intoxication, the acquisition of knowledge from the initiate also induces a similar drunkenness for the seeker.
Two manuscripts, instead of "beggar", "one who sits by the road", have "dweller on the earth".Arberry (1947), p. 157. Seif argues that this reading is preferable, because of the antithesis with heaven in the first half of the verse.Seif (2019). Google books. However, Lewis notes: "Hafez describes himself more than once as a beggar (). He is the beggar who retreats from society to sit alone in a corner ()."Lewis (2002).
Verse 3 On the word Annemarie Schimmel explains: "Man was entrusted with the , the "trust" (Sura 33:72) that Heaven and earth refused to carry — a trust that has been differently interpreted: as responsibility, free will, love, or the power of individuation."Schimmel (1975), p. 188.See also Mahouzi et al. (2018) for discussion of different views. The Qur'anic verse in question reads: "Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant."Qur'ān, Sura 33:72 (Sahih International). Arberry comments, "God created man to be his vice-gerent", citing Qur'an Sura 2:30 and 6:166 (165).Arberry (1947), p. 157.
is defined by Steingass as "A die; a throw of dice; drawing lots, a lottery".Steingass, Dictionary. Some editors, for "the lottery of the work", read "the casting of the lot". de Fouchécour explains: "They cast lots, and the lot fell on this poor mad poet (i.e. Adam)".de Fouchécour (2006), p. 514.
Verse 4 There was a tradition that in Islam there are 72 different sects. Arberry quotes Omar Khayyam:Khayyam, Roba'i 90 (Ganjoor).
Drink wine, since it removes from the heart both excess and insufficiency; and it removes the theology of the seventy-two sects. Do not abstain from that alchemy from which if you drink one sip it removes a thousand reasons.
In his Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859), the poet Edward FitzGerald translated this as follows: The Grape that can with Logic absolute The two-and-seventy jarring sects confute; The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute.
Verse 5 In this verse, three of the manuscripts have the word ("houris", "virgins of paradise") instead of ("Sufis").
According to Arberry, this verse should be taken closely with verse 6, the common theme being the complete submission of the seeker to the will of God.
Three of the manuscripts have an extra verse after verse 5 (or after verse 6). These floating verses are commonly found in the manuscripts of Hafez and are usually considered to be inauthentic. They are, however, included in Gertrude Bell's translation.
The verse is as follows:
With a hundred harvests of thoughts how come we do not leave the way, seeing that they diverted the path of Adam, though he was vigilant, with a single grain?
This refers to a tradition that the reason for Adam's fall from Heaven was the eating of a single grain of wheat.Bell (1897), p. 170.
Verse 6 The image of the moth burning itself in the candle is a favourite one with Persian poets. Annemarie Schimmel traces the idea back to the 10th/11th century Sufi al-Hallaj of Baghdad, from whose writings it appears that "[The moth] does not want the light or the heat but casts himself into the flame, never to return and never to give any information about the Reality, for he has reached perfection."Schimmel (1975), p. 70. The phrase "sets fire to the harvest of the moth" refers to the moth's total annihilation in the flame.
In their introduction to this poem Avery and Heath-Stubbs write:Avery & Heath-Stubbs (1952), p. 47.