The Influence of Solomon's Story in the Quran on Hafiz Sonnet 216

The holy Quran exerted great influence on Hafiz Sonnets. Sometimes this influence has been symbolic and open to different poetic and figurative interpretations. Hafiz has adopted Quranic words and expressed them in beautiful ways with strong effect. It seems there is a high amount of correspondence between Hafiz’s Sonnet 216 and the story of Solomon in the Quran (Surah Naml) in wording, notions, themes and artistic and symbolic expressions. Clearly, Hafiz based his poem on this Quranic story and Zemakhshari’s interpretation of Verse 44 in Naml. Fairy, Saba Queen, dissatisfaction of Jens as to Solomon’s marriage to Saba Queen are among the themes Hafiz incorporated into his poem and presented in an artistic sonnet. For example, he took “nazar” (glance, look) from Solomon’s words and used it in a phrase in his poem to refer to “wise words” and “wiseman”. It is difficult to discover this connection at first glance. However, this technique makes Hafiz’s poetry very interesting and enjoyable to read.