A review of Prof. Shafi ee Kadkani's annotations on the ghazals of Shams-e Tabriz

Foroozanfar's critical edition of Shams Tabrizi’s ghazals, published in the course of 1957-1965, paved the way for a more in-depth reading of Mowlavi's theosophy, thought and poetic art. The earliest selection of Shams’s ghazals based on Foroozanfar's edition was rendered by Shafiee Kadkani (1973), setting the stage for many people to strike up an acquaintance not only with Mowlavi , but with classical Persian literature. While fully acknowledging the great work undertaken by Foroozanfar, Shafiee believed that a fresh edition of Shams’s ghazals was badly needed. After 26 years, when in 2008, a relatively substantial selection of the ghazals was eventually produced by Shafiee, it turned out that, in terms of redaction, he had done nothing but give preference to certain variant spurious manuscripts and suggest a few analogical emendations. However, Shafiee has asserted that his glosses to the ghazals are the result of 35 years of persistent inquiry into the Persian and Islamic literature and mysticism. This article is an attempt to provide a reread of the version of Shams’s ghazals as supported by Shafiee's annotations, presenting a few critical, enhancive, and supplemental notes on them.