Hafiz of Shiraz: An Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Almost 40 years ago, Paul Smith, a young poet, first saw the name of Hafiz in a book about the Spiritual Master Meher Baba in which he stated, ‘There is no equal to Hafiz in Poetry. He was a Perfect Master, his book, the Divan, is the best book in the world because it engenders feelings which ultimately lead to illumination.’ Meher Baba then went on to state that that all the well-known translations of Hafiz did not do justice to the poet.

Strangely, into Paul’s mind flashed the thought, ‘One day I will rectify that!’ It was strange, because he had no talent for learning other languages, they went in one ear and out the other! But, he thought, if Hafiz is such a great poet then he would study poetry from the best and spent the following eight years collecting and reading the 100 attempts in English that had appeared including two complete versions of Hafiz’s Divan, one literal by Wilberforce Clarke and one rhyming by John Payne.

He then read the words of Masud Fazaad, the great Iranian authority on Hafiz, that the only way Hafiz would be successfully translated was by an Iranian scholar working with an English poet. As Clarke and others were Iranian scholars he realized that perhaps he was the poet that could make it possible. But first he had to make the difficult form of the ghazal his own and composed many of his own poems in this form until it became natural to him.

He spent a year and a half doing about a hundred and fifty of Hafiz’s ghazals but felt they were too intellectual, too wooden and decided late one night that it was an impossible task and gave up. The instant that he did the Divine Presence of Hafiz appeared and admonished him for trying to do them by himself and for himself and was told to pick up the pen again and he would be shown how they could be done, to become a vessel for their appearance in English. That night he jointly did a dozen ghazals with the immortal poet. He then went on to re-do the 150 and after 12 years working in partnership with the poet, completed the Divan which was then corrected by an Iranian scholar of Hafiz and Persian Literature, Ali Akbar Shapamurzen, who knew all of the Divan by heart in the original language. Ali Akbar pronounced his version, ‘99% Hafiz and 1% Paul Smith’. His version is now recognized by those who know him in the original as a ‘miracle’ and another proof of the immortality of the Divine Poet.

‘It is not a joke. The two books... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all and I will lay down my head at his feet out of respect.’ Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran.

‘It is a brilliant feat... the two books, the Introduction and the Divan. I am much thankful and grateful.’ Dr. Zein ab Abedin Mo'tamin (D. Lit.) Tehran.

‘I have never seen such a good translation.’ Mr B. Khorramshai, Academy of Philosophy, Tehran.

‘I would like to help to introduce your book which I loved to all Iranians
and maybe to the Middle East.’ Mr. Ali Tarrassoli. Shiraz University.

‘I was very impressed with the beauty of these books.’ Dr. R.K. Barz.
Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University.

Since completing the Divan and the Introduction to his book Paul has written on Hafiz, a radio play, a stage play, a musical, a film script, a television series, an animated feature film script, a children’s book, a book of 400 of his ghazals as a spiritual Oracle.

Robert Watts, the famous British Film Producer whose many credits include Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Meetings with Remarkable Men, is currently raising some of the finances to make his movie on Hafiz’s Life. see Multi-Media Project.

Paul is at present two-thirds of the way through writing a 2100 page historical novel/biography on Hafiz’s life and times in Shiraz and the many poets who were his friends, including the Princess poet Jahan Malek Khatun and the great Iranian satirist Obeyd Zakani. Paul has also completed two books of their works. He has also completed a version of Nizami’s Layla & Majnun and Treasury of the Mysteries and a book of Sadi’s ghazals, Divan of Sadi. (See Books and C.D’s)

‘If there is anything Paul Smith does not know about Hafiz, the 14th Century Persian poet, it probably is not worth knowing... remarkably accurate... a remarkable feat... an inexhaustible well of inspired images...’ Rosemary Adam, The Age Newspaper.

Daniel Ladinsky, who has written a number of popular books of poems inspired by Hafiz says of Paul Smith’s work on Hafiz: ‘Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.’

Richard Lee, Publisher.

Home