Foreword

Few cities of the world enjoy such exotic names and romantic renown as Shiraz, the capital city of the Fars Province in Iran (Persia).

The Shiraz that the West has learned to love, admire and emulate is, however, mainly the Shiraz of Hafiz and Sa'di, who rank in the Occident as Poets' Poets. Hafiz is held as the greatest master of Lyric poetry, whilst Sa'di's Divan is a storehouse of wit, poetic thought and lyric delicacy justifying his title of the "Nightingale of Shiraz." Shiraz should be visited in a Persian frame of mind, perhaps after a night with Hafiz's ghazals (sonnets) or Sa'di's verses.

Shiraz has however a claim to great antiquity and some 3000 years of recorded history, it has also an artistic tradition for in fact Shiraz initiated the new era in Persian art in the 13th and 14th century A.D, its immortal poets, its rose bowers and cypresses, the warmth and passion of its people, the rosy lips of its maidens lured famous scholars and travellers to visit Shiraz so much so that:

"The visitor forgets his homeland when in
May he comes to Shiraz."

Sa'di

You as a visitor to Shiraz are joining these great travellers. We do not know how many days, or weeks or months you are going to stay but the people who liked Shiraz have stayed on and on and discovered the magic of Shiraz for themselves.

THE CRADLE OF PERSIAN CIVILISATION?
History of Shiraz

Shiraz may well claim to be the cradle of Persian civilisation, for in the dim past around 1000 B.C. as the Persian race descending from the north must have dwelt there. The very name for the Province of Parsa (Arabic version of Parsa is Fars-modern name of Parsa) is the name, which the West gave our country in the form of Persia.
A.V.W. Jackson, writing at the beginning of our century, stated that the claim of Shiraz to eminence for reason of antiquity was not comparable to Hamedan or Ray, but since then, the name of Shiraz, in the form of Shiraz-it-ish has been deciphered in several clay tablets recently unearthed by Professor Cameroon of the Chicago University, in the "Treasury" at Persepolis.

According to these tablets craftsmen from Shiraz were employed in the building of Persepolis, their wages being paid in silver. In order to be able to provide such craftsmen Shiraz must have had a well developed civilization long before the age in which Persepolis was being built i.e. about 2500 years ago. Is it not safe therefore to assume that Shiraz was founded by the leaders of the Persians about 1000 B.C.? To one or other of these mythical kings (Tahmureth, Houshang or Jamshid - the equivalent of Yama in Indian mythology) the founding of Shiraz is attributed, and it is worth noting that Persepolis is known as "Takht-e Jamshid" or the "Throne of Jamshid."

Prehistoric - Achaemenid and Sasanian eras

That Prehistoric settlements existed in Parsa prior to 3000 B.C. has been proved by the discovery of Neolithic tools near Persepolis (Marvdasht). Stone carvings in several places in this province have been attributed to the third millennium B.C.

Two curiously shaped and deep wells on the flank of a hill near Sa'di's mausoleum in Shiraz are very similar to other wells dug in Persepolis itself, another proof that Shiraz was used during the Achaemenid era if not as a town, almost certainly as a garrison quarters. These wells are well preserved and visitors may inspect them.
In the Sasanian era, Ardashir Khurreh held court in Shiraz but the city of Istakhra gradually became the new stronghold of the Persian faith and pushed Shiraz to the background.

Shiraz in the Islamic Era

Fars or Parsa and its famous capital Istakhra, being the homeland of the Zoroastrian Persia was naturally marked for complete destruction at the hands of the Muslim conquerors.

In the chaotic period immediately after the invasion, Istakhra defied the might of the Muslims, on and off, for almost 400 years, and it was during this period that Shiraz gradually came to the fore and finally replaced Istakhra, for the Muslims based their operation against Istakhra on Shiraz.

From 879 to 902 A.D. the famous patriotic dynasty, the Saffavids made Shiraz their capital. The extant Jum'a Mosque was built in the year 894 - 5 A.D. Amir' Laith.

The Allah-o-Akbar Defile

Most travellers approach Shiraz from the north through an impressive range of hills called "Sabouy" and pass through the Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great) Defile. This is the famous pass which is said to force the traveller to exclaim "God is Great" when he emerges from it and beholds Shiraz in the vast plain below This might have held true for the Shiraz of 50 years ago but today with the town growing to the west, and partially concealed by a bluff (at the foot of which the famous Quran Gate is situated) a better view of Shiraz may be obtained from the opposite bank of the valley or from the Baba Kuhi.

The Quran Gate. Originally built as an ornamental entrance by the Buwwayhids about 1000 years ago, it was ignorantly demolished 60 years ago. The present gate was erected on its site, later, by a local merchant.
The Quran Gate is so called because it is believed that in order to dispel evil-eye from the city a Quran was kept on it permanently.

The Quran gate and its surrounding are really a grand stand for a lovely panorama of Shiraz described so lyrically and beautifully by Professor Edward Browne who says:

At our very feet, in a grassy, fertile plain girt with purple hills, on the loftier summits of which the snow still lingered, and half concealed amidst gardens of dark stately cypresses, wherein the rose and the judas. Tree in luxuriant abundance struggled with a host of other flowers for the mastery of colour, sweet and beautiful in its garb of spring verdure which clothed the very roofs of the bazaars, studded with many a slender minarat and many a turquoise-hued dome, lay the home of Persian culture, the mother of Persian genius, the sanctuary of poetry and philosophy, Shiraz… riveted on this my eyes scarcely marked the remother beauties of the scene the glittering azures of Lake Meharlu to the east, the interminable gardens of Masjed Badri to the west. Words cannot describe the rapture which overcame me as, after many a weary march, I gazed at last on the reality of that whereof I had so long dreamed, and found the reality not merely equal to, but far surpassed, the ideal which I had conceived. It is seldom enough in one's life that this occurs when it does, one's innermost being is stripped with an emotion which baffles description, and which the most eloquent words can but dimly shadow forth.

Shiraz

The Poetical Capital of Iran.
"Home of the greatest Poet of the world"

Many scholars have justifiably used the definition "Poetical Capital" for the town, which gave Persia two of the greatest poets of the world, Hafiz and Sa'di.

Hafiz with his delicate and beautiful "ghazals" is the acknowledged master of lyricism, mysticism and "Erfan" and some scholars go so far as give him the title of "the greatest poet of the world".
Sa'di, who died 30 years before Hafiz was born, is more versatile in his poetical art due perhaps to his extensive travels occupying one third of his long life.

He was not only a poet but a mystic, a philosopher, a masterful story-teller, a wit and a moralist. Hafiz did not leave Shiraz except for a brief outing which he regretted and from which he returned to reside in Shiraz and dedicated his life to "meditation, and to singing of the unspeakable love" which was burning in his breast.
It is difficult for those not acquainted with Persian literature to follow the lines of Hafiz, and Sa'di, the simplest explanation we can give our visitors is that Hafiz was an introvert, his ideas are not objective and when he speaks of wine, love, the cupbearer and the music he is not talking of the things that are usually understood by such things, but the essence, the nectar and the spirit that flows through life, the love that created life and the urge, the life force and the mysteries that have baffled all the thinkers of the world.

Sa'di, as explained above, expressed himself in many hues of the poetical media. His lyric poems are comparable with those of Hafiz but they are not so consistently burning with and so unswervingly dedicated to the one theme Hafiz chose. In addition to his Poetry Sa'di wrote beautiful prose and philosophical discourses.
Together with Ferdowsi in epics, Molavi in mystics, Nezami in story telling and Khayyam in agnosticism, Sa'di and Hafiz enter the inner asylum of Persia's greatest six poets, thus winning for their native town two places of honour and the term "Poetical capital of Persia."

Persian literature is however too great and complicated a subject for discussion in a booklet of this size and scope. We believe we have however failed in our obligation to Hafiz if we do not mention the fact that Hafiz's ideas penetrated deep into the West, and when they were grasped by men of understanding and talent they made many converts among whom the great German poet Goethe can be named.

Hafiz

"A poet inspired by prophets."

"The beauty of this language, the charm of his style, the sweet flow of his verse, and the passionate expression of his feeling, whether it be in the lyrical outpouring of his own love, or in the mystic ecstasy of a spiritual devotion veiled under the guise of material image, entitle Hafiz to rank even in the occident as a poet's poet."

A.V.W. Jackson. In "Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature".

Hafiz needs no introduction. He is emulated in the West and adored in the East where from the shores of the Nile to the Sea of Japan his lyrics have inspired scholars, philosophers, thinkers, poets, artists, writers, painters and even kings for centuries. In the West, Hafiz is known in elite circles as Poets' Poet, a master to be emulated, a model never to be reached.

Hafiz was inspired by an inner light, personified in a mythical prophet (Khizr - The emblem of Eternal Youth) and his love was too great to be affected by pure Dogma. He was in so intimate a communion with the beholder of Eternity that he could say:

Ay, sully your prayer mat with wine, if
The Elder encourage such sin
For the traveller surely should know all
The manners and ways of the inn

Born about 1324 A.D., Hafiz lived at a time of national misfortune, upheavals and changes of rulers. The after-effects of the Mongol Invasion held Persia aghast, the impending danger of fresh onslaughts by Tamerlane, the abject conditions of the time and the uncertainty of fortune did not bend his courage to dedicate a life - time to meditation and open criticism of worldly self - seekers, hypocrites and false moralists. He was a prolific writer and over 6,000 verses of his remain. Hafiz has been translated in almost all Western languages.

Hafiz died in 1388 and was buried in a public garden, which he had loved all his life. A mausoleum was built for him 60 years later.

It is very difficult to quote a verse of Hafiz as a specimen of his work, for to speak of Hafiz, one must speak of love, and he very ably opens his book with the significant verse we quote overleaf.

Sa'di

"The Nightingale of Shiraz"

I saw some handfuls of rose in bloom, with bands of grass suspended from a dome; I said "what means this worthless grass that it should in the roses fairy circle sit?"

Then wept the grass and said "be still and know the kind their old associate never forego, mine is no beauty, here, or fragrance-true, but in the garden of the lord I grew."

Sa'di's Gulistan

Perhaps no other poet of the world is so versatile as Sa'di. He is equally at home with didactic and philosophic thoughts as with lyrics and witticism, and it is a safe guess to say that no Persian poet is quoted so often as Sa'di by other poets, men of letter, kings and beggars alike. His sayings, maxims, amorphisms and wise counsels are second to none. His formidable gift of repartee, his vast knowledge of the worldly ways of people, his great talent for crisp storytelling and his beautiful lyrics have all combined to make this extraordinary man the idol of his countrymen, and he is quoted in conversation and in writing as much as Shakespeare is quoted in the West. Sa'di was born about a century and a half before Hafiz, sometime between 1181 and 1184 A.D., and died in A.D. 1291 i.e. about 30 years before Hafiz was born. Hafiz emulated Sa'di and accepted him as the master of lyrics. And in fact about one third of Sa'di's voluminous work in the lyric vein. His most important books are Gulistan or "Garden of Roses" and Bustan or "Garden of Perfumes". His Divan or complete works has been many times edited, published and translated in almost all languages of the world.

Sa'di's "Gulistan" is his chief work and a standard for eloquent, flowing, concise and effective Persian. The book has eight chapters on such subjects as:

a. Kings;
b. Dervishes;
c. Contentment;
d. Taciturnity;
e. Love and youth;
f. Old Age and Decrepitude;
g. Education; and
h. Manners.

Interested readers will be able to get the Persian "Gulistan" almost in any Persian village, and translations in almost any capital of the world.

The lines quoted under the heading of this chapter are from "Gulistan" and as an illustration of his humour; the following story is worth quoting.

"A man with a very disagreeable voice was loudly reciting the Quran. Someone asked him how much he was paid for reciting. Offended the man said: "Paid! I am not paid. I recite for the sake of God! "Then" the other replied, "for God's sake don't!"

Sa'di lived to be a centenarian, travelled much and saw the world of his time. He was taken prisoner by the Crusaders; enslaved and set to digging in Tripoli, saw India, Africa and Asia Minor.

Sa'di derived his penname from the Atabeg king under whose reign he lived in Shiraz. His tomb was held in respect and reverence by his compatriots. Flandin and Coste drew a sketch of it in the eighteenth century. It was rebuilt many times and finally the brick building was demolished in 1948 and the present mausoleum, finished four years later was built in 1952, in a vast garden of 7,700 Sq. meters. It is one of the sights of Shiraz.

As an illustration of Sa'di's serious work we give you a free translation of three lines from a poem inscribed on one of the walls of his tomb.

"O! Erring Sufi in pain for fame and bound by.
The chains of shining name.
Thou shalt not be relieved of this pain
If the wine to dregs dost not thou drain
What loss or gain ill there ever be
For the beholder of eternity,
If one recite the Quran by heart,
Or as I do later from here depart?"