In today's world, Zolf-'āšofte is a topic/concept/person that has gained great relevance and interest in various areas of society. Whether in politics, science, art or everyday life, Zolf-'āšofte has marked a before and after in the way people perceive and approach different aspects of life. Its impact becomes evident in the way conversations develop, in the approach given to certain problems or in the way decisions are made. Zolf-'āšofte has generated controversy, inspiration, reflection and action, becoming a key element to understand the complexity of today's world. In this article, we will explore the impact of Zolf-'āšofte and analyze its influence in different areas, as well as its possible implications for the future.
Zolf-'āšofte is a ghazal (love-song) by the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez of Shiraz. In this poem, Hafez is visited in the night by a former beloved, and it becomes clear through metaphorical language that the encounter is successful. There is no hint of any Sufic or esoteric connection in this poem. The poem is no. 26 in the edition of Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941) and no. 22 in the edition of Parviz Natel-Khanlari (2nd ed. 1983).
In the transcription below, "x" = kh as in Khayyam, ' is a glottal stop. Overlong syllables, which take up the time of a long plus a short syllable in the metre, are underlined.
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.
In the scheme below, x = anceps (i.e. long or short syllable), u = a short syllable, and – = a long syllable:
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.
This metre is fairly common in classical Persian lyric poetry, and is used in 143 (27%) of the 530 poems of Hafez.
The gender of the person described is not made clear in the Persian; it could be a man or a woman, and is possibly left deliberately ambiguous by Hafez. However, in view of the long tradition of homoerotic Persian love poetry in the centuries before Hafez, it is most likely that the person is male. "Many of the unusual attributes of the 'beloved' can be understood by recalling that in the classical lyric poetry the image of the poet's sweetheart refers more often than not to a male figure, normally a youth".
Verses 1, 2 and 7 have echoes of the opening verses of a well-known poem of the 13th-century mystic poet Iraqi which begins:
The same Iraqi poem opening is imitated in Hafez's ghazal 27.
As Edward Granville Browne translates it, Iraqi's poem contains Sufic imagery, but most commentators do not see this ghazal of Hafez as having a Sufic interpretation.
نرگس narges is literally a narcissus-flower, but here refers to the eye.
افسوس کنان afsūs-konān suggests banter, mockery, teasing, jesting.
The phrase rūz-e alast "the day of 'Am I not?' " refers to the occasion, early in the history of creation, when, according to Qur'ān 7.172, God removed Adam's as-yet-unborn descendants from the loins of Adam's children and asked them "Am I not your Lord?" (alastu bi-rabbikum?), and they replied "Yes! We have born witness" (balā! šahidnā). It is also known as the day of the Primordial Covenant. See further: Covenant (religion)#Islam.
The word توبه towbe means "vowing to sin no more; repenting; repentance, penitence; conversion; abjuring; renouncing; recantation". With this word Hafez indicates that he knew that what he did was a sin, but nonetheless he did it.
There are articles on the following poems by Hafez on Wikipedia. The number in the edition by Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941) is given: