The Moment of Hafiz

Though the meaning of time seems to be the same for all people, it becomes a complicated, important and relative concept in mysticism which cannot be grasped easily because each mystic understands and interprets it differently depending on the states he experiences; even the same mystic may have diverse interpretations of it in various states and conditions. This paper aims to investigate the Sufi’s definitions of this concept as well as Hafiz’s understandings of it at the climax of the beauties and delicacies of Persian mystical poetry in the eighth (A.H) century.
In the famous pedagogical texts of mysticism, moment is a mystical term which has been discussed under the jargon of Sufism. Though there are different implications and expressions about moment in the mystical texts depending on the states and discourses of mystics and Sufis, they all enjoy similar meaning approximately. However, in the view of Hafiz, this concept has unique characteristics due to his thought and use of mystical teachings in his poems to the extent that this concept is manifested in his poetry in a vast number of forms and meanings.
In this article, first, the nature of moment and its relation with the concept of time is discussed and, then, via a terminological approach which is based on exploring the evolution of this concept, the introduction and review of literature are presented. Then, Hafiz’s view and understanding of time and his special attention to the Self moment in his mystical thought and experience is explicated and, while categorizing the moment of Hafiz and its various grades regarding poetic evidence in his Divan, the difference between the moment of Hafiz and others as well as how the sweet affair of loving and drunkenness seats the thought and poems of Hafiz on a position superior to others are shown.