Asceticism from the Perspective of Hafez and Nietzsche

Hafez's lyrics are loaded with concepts against asceticism, an approach which makes this mystical sonneteer distinct from other Muslim poets. It is worth mentioning, however, that having mystical experiences is not possible without ascetical practices such as, prayer, fasting, refraining from evils and joys and austerity. Applying the ascetical approach, the mystic departs himself from the earthly world and gets prepared to enter the spiritual realm. Thus, picturing mysticism without asceticism is exactly what Hafez tries to advocate. According to Hafez the one who claims to have asceticism, but is still in fond of material world and the reluctance toward the transient world has not yet been penetrated in his heart, cannot be described as the one reaching the realm of truth and mysteries. Furthermore, asceticism acts like a tool which has nothing by itself to add to the heart of the mystic, rather, focusing too much on asceticism, certainly can lead to the deprivation of accessing the spiritual realm for the mystic, for all the earthly objects are the manifests of God and the mystic will finally see his beloved's face within the objects which he had left behind. During the time of practicing asceticism and austerity, the mystic controls his five senses in order to harness his greedy willingness, but after that he gets qualified to pay attention to the worldly objects which reflect the face of the beloved. This point which is known as "drunkenness" in mysticism marls the end of asceticism and beginning of mysticism. This position, however, should not be interpreted as the time in which the legal precepts and religious duties are all annulled. In the works of Nietzsche, two different kinds of asceticism; a positive and negative ones can be identified. Each of them can be divided in two other categories. The negative asceticism which has no connection with living and seeks to relieve human suffering, includes the supernatural and clerical asceticism, by supernatural asceticism a kind if philosophy is meant which tries to evade suffering by coining the house of ideas (Platonism), being unified with the light (the concept highlighted in Buddhism) and offering the human stabilized cognition system (Kant's critical philosophy). By clerical asceticism, Nietzsche means, the approach of conflicting with the world and evading the living. The followers of this approach once were among the commanders and fighters and when they reached the old age, by coining the title of clerical class, became members of it. According to Nietzsche, such people, after losing their power and control over the others, they try to attack themselves and gain control over themselves, leading to creating another kind of asceticism. On the other hand, the positive asceticism which can provide a popper situation to train talented people is divided into two sections: the natural and pure philosophical asceticism. By natural asceticism, he means the hard and overwhelming practices which influence both soul and body and cause much suffering. Such asceticism, instead of destroying the instincts, will purge it and willingly accept the religious legal duties. The pure philosophical asceticism, on the other hand, is a philosophical approach in which the person would put the majority aside, providing a private atmosphere for himself observing the power in the history of philosophy and nature. According to Nietzsche the negative asceticism is an approach stemming from slaves morality, while the positive asceticism stems from the masters morality. It primarily seems that the kind of asceticism suggested by Hafez is similar to what Nietzsche calls it as clerical asceticism. Also, Hafez's definition of asceticism can match the one called by Nietzsche as pure philosophical asceticism. However, the asceticism suggested by Hafez must be considered the fifth kind, since, after all, Nietzsche's suggested form of asceticism is quite materialistic while that of Hafez is of spiritual nature.