International Day of Hafez

Iranians annually celebrate the Hafez Day on October 11, during which they gather and hold talks on the poetry, thoughts, and life of Hafez.

Khwaja Shams-ud-din Mohammed Hafez e Shirazi, Hafiz or simply Hafez (Persian: خواجه شمس‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی), was a Persian mystic and poet. He was born in Shiraz in south-western Persia (modern Iran) in approximately 1320 A.D., twenty two years before the birth of Chaucer and a year before the death of Dante.

He was named Shams-ud-din, which means ‘Sun of Faith,’ Mohammed. Later when he began to write poetry he selected Hafez for his pen-name or takhallus. ‘Hafez’ is the title given to one who has learnt the whole of the Koran by heart and Hafez claimed to have done this in fourteen different ways.

John Payne, who has translated the Dīwān Hāfez, regards Hafez as the greatest poet of the world. His lyrical poems, known as ghazals, are noted for their beauty and bring to fruition the love, mysticism, and early Sufi themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry. Moreover, his poetry possessed elements of modern surrealism. More