Shirazi Turk is a ghazal (love poem) by the 14th-century Persian poet, Hāfez of Shiraz. It has been described as "the most familiar of Hafez's poems in the English-speaking world".^[1] It was the first poem of Hafez to appear in English,^[2] when William Jones made his paraphrase "A Persian Song" in 1771, based on a Latin version supplied by his friend Károly Reviczky. Edward Granville Browne wrote of this poem: "I cannot find so many English verse-renderings of any other of the odes of Ḥafiẓ."^[3] It is the third poem in the collection (The Divān of Hafez) of Hafez's poems, which are arranged alphabetically by their rhymes.

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (September 2021)

In the century after Hafez's death, a famous anecdote was told on how the Mongol conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) met Hafez and criticized him for writing so disrespectfully of Bokhara and Samarkand in this poem. The story first appears in a work called Anis al-Nas by Shoja' Shirazi (1426),^[4] and it was elaborated in a collection of biographies of poets (Tazkerāt aš-Šo'arā) completed in 1486 by Dawlatshah Samarqandi.^[5]

It has been argued that the poem is likely to have been written after 1370, when Tamerlane began to develop Samarkand and make it famous as his capital.^[6] If so, it was probably written later in Hafez's life, since in 1370, he would've been somewhere between 53 and 55 years old.

The transliteration given here is based on the approved by the United Nations in 2012, which represents the current pronunciation of educated speakers in Iran, except that to make scansion easier, the long vowels are marked with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū).^[7] (See Romanization of Persian.) The glottal stop is written ('), and kh (as in "Khayyām") is written x.

Prose translations of the poem can be found in Clarke (1891), pp. 40–43, Windfuhr (1990), Hillmann (1995), and Ingenito (2018). A number of poetic versions are quoted in part or in full by Arberry (1946).

The Persian text of the poem, and recordings in Persian, are available on the Ganjoor website.^[8]

1

اگر آن ترک شیرازی به دست آرد دل ما را

به خال هندویش بخشم سمرقند و بخارا را

'agar 'ān Tork-e Šīrāzī * be dast ārad del-ē mā-rā

be xāl-ē Hendu-yaš baxšam * Samarqand ō Boxārā-rā

If that Shirazi Turk accepts my heart in their hand,

for their Indian mole I will give Samarkand and Bukhara.

2

بده ساقی می باقی که در جنت نخواهی یافت

کنار آب رکن آباد و گلگشت مصلا را

bedeh, sāqī, mey-ē bāqī * ke dar jannat naxāhī yāft

kenār-ē āb-e Roknābād * o golgašt-ē Mosallā-rā

Wine-pourer, give the rest of wine, since in heaven you will not find

the banks of the water of Roknabad and the rose-walk of Mosalla.

3

فغان کاین لولیان شوخ شیرین کار شهرآشوب

چنان بردند صبر از دل که ترکان خوان یغما را

faqān k-īn lūliyān-ē šūx * -e šīrīnkār-e šahrāšūb

čonān bordānd sabr az del * ke Torkān xān-e yaqmā-rā

Alas for these mischievous gypsies who do sweet things and make the town riot!

they have stolen the patience from my heart like Turks at a banquet of plunder.

4

ز عشق ناتمام ما جمال یار مستغنی است

به آب و رنگ و خال و خط چه حاجت روی زیبا را

ze 'ešq-ē nātamām-ē mā * jamāl-ē yār mostaqnī-st

be āb ō rang o xāl ō xat * če hājat rūy-e zībā-rā?

Of our imperfect love the glory of the beloved is independent;

what need does a beautiful face have for powder and colour and mole and line?

5

من از آن حسن روزافزون که یوسف داشت دانستم

که عشق از پرده عصمت برون آرد زلیخا را

man az 'ān hosn-e rūz-afzūn * ke Yūsof dāšt dānestam

ke 'ešq az parde-yē 'esmat * borūn ārad Zoleyxā-rā

I have learnt, from that daily-increasing beauty that Joseph had,

that Love will bring Zoleykha out from behind the curtain of modesty.

6

اگر دشنام فرمایی و گر نفرین دعا گویم

جواب تلخ می‌زیبد لب لعل شکرخا را

agar došnām farmā'ī * v-agar nefrīn do'ā gūyam

javāb-ē talx mīzībad * lab-ē la'l-ē šekarxā-rā

Even if you speak harshly, and even if you curse me, I am grateful;

a bitter answer beautifies a ruby-red sugar-chewing lip.

7

نصیحت گوش کن جانا که از جان دوست‌تر دارند

جوانان سعادتمند پند پیر دانا را

nasīhat gūš kon, jānā, * ke 'az jān dūst-tar dārand

javānān-ē sa'ādatmand * pand-ē pīr-e dānā-rā

Listen to advice, my soul, since even more valuable than their soul

youths who seek happiness hold the advice of a knowledgeable elder.

8

حدیث از مطرب و می گو و راز دهر کمتر جو

که کس نگشود و نگشاید به حکمت این معما را

hadīs az motreb-ō mey gū * vo rāz-ē dahr kamtar jū

ke kas nagšūd o nagšāyad * be hekmat 'īn mo'ammā-rā

Tell a tale of minstrel and wine, and seek the secret of time less,

since no one has ever solved or will ever solve this riddle with wisdom.

9

غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافظ

که بر نظم تو افشاند فلک عقد ثریا را

qazal goftī o dor softī * biyā vō xoš bexān, Hāfez

ke bar nazm-ē to afšānad * falak 'egd-ē Sorayyā-rā

You have completed your poem and pierced the pearl; come and sing beautifully, Hafez,

that on your compositions Heaven may scatter the necklace of the Pleiades.

The metre is known as hazaj. Each bayt or verse is made of four sections of eight syllables each. In Elwell-Sutton's system, this metre is classified as 2.1.16, and it is used in 25 (4.7%) of Hafez's 530 poems.^[9]

| u – – – | u – – – || u – – – | u – – – |

"Overlong" syllables, which take up the place of a long plus a short syllable in the metre, are underlined.

The text of the poem is not entirely certain. The version given above is that of Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941).^[10][11] However, of ten manuscripts examined by Mas'ud Farzaad, in fact only two have the above text.^[12]

Nine of the ten manuscripts agree on the order of verses 1–5 and 9. But concerning verses 6–8 there is more disagreement. One manuscript has the order 1, 2, 7, 6, 3, 9, omitting 4, 5 and 8. Another manuscript omits verses 6 and 7. In the other manuscripts verses 6, 7, and 8 are found in various orders: 7, 8, 6; 8, 7, 6; and 6, 8, 7.

Bashiri (1979) argued that verses 6 and 7 are interpolations, and Rehder (1974) suggested that one or both of verses 4 and 8 might be spurious.^[13]

Eight of the manuscripts have a different version of verse 6 (see below).

The practice of Sufism (Islamic mysticism) was widespread in Iran during these centuries and greatly influenced Persian poetry.^[14] However, how far this poem of Hafez is to be taken in a mystical sense is disputed. One of those who interpreted it mystically is Clarke (1895), who explains that the Turk symbolises God, Samarkand and Bukhara signify this world and the next, the wine is the mysteries of love, and so on.^[15]

However, not all scholars see a mystical interpretation in this poem. Gertrude Bell, for example, in her Poems from the Divan of Hafiz (1897), p. 129, wrote:

"The whole poem has received a mystical interpretation which seems to me to add but little to its value or to its intelligibility."

E. G. Browne in volume 3 of his Literary History of Persia wrote:^[16]

"That many of the odes are to be taken in symbolic and mystical sense, few will deny; that others mean what they say, and celebrate a beauty not celestial and a wine not allegorical can hardly be questioned."

Similarly in the 16th century, the Turkish commentator on Hafez, Ahmed Sudi, adopted a literal approach to Hafez's poetry, rejecting the excessively mystical interpretations of his predecessors Süruri and Şemʿi.^[17]

The ruler of Shiraz in Hafez's time, Shah Shoja', also found both aspects, spiritual and worldly, in Hafez's poems. He is said to have complained that Hafez's poetry was "at one moment mystical, at another erotic and bacchanalian; now serious and spiritual, and again flippant and worldly".^[18] Many modern commentators agree with Browne and Bell,^[19] and the majority accept the ode at its face value.

Iraj Bashiri on the other hand argues strongly for a Sufic interpretation of this poem.^[12] He compares this poem with another of Hafez's ghazals, Sīne mālāmāl ("My heart is brimful of pain"), which is more obviously Sufic in character. According to Bashiri, both poems describe the seven stages of Love an initiate must go through to achieve union with the Divine (loss of heart, regret, ecstasy, loss of patience, loss of consciousness, loss of mind, annihilation).

Bashiri also draws attention to certain apparent astronomical references: the Sun (which was sometimes known as Tork-e falak "the Turk of the firmament"), Saturn (sometimes referred to as Hendū-ye čarx "the Indian of the sky"),^[20] Venus and other bright planets (Lūlīyān), the seven planets (Torkan), the Pleiades (Sorayyā), and the firmament itself (falak), all of which can be given Sufic meanings. His interpretation is at odds with that of Hillmann, who dismisses Bashiri's article as unscholarly.^[21]

However, even Hillmann acknowledges^[22] that in this poem there is a certain ambivalence – the ambiguity or īhām for which Hafez is famous. "The allusion to Joseph and Zulaykha may seem to some to be wholly in the spiritual area of the spectrum, whereas the minstrel-and-wine image in bayt 8 and the self-praise in bayt 9 perhaps can be taken only as part of the physical world." The question of the intent of the poem therefore is open to interpretation, some scholars taking it wholly as a physical description of love, others like Arberry as a "grand philosophical utterance".^[22]

Whether the Turk is male or female is not expressed grammatically in Persian. Many of the earliest translators of this poem all translated it as though the Turk were female, beginning with William Jones, whose version begins: "Sweet maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight...".^[23] Herman Bicknell (1875) is an exception, writing "If that Shirâzian Turk would deign to take my heart within his hand, To make his Indian mole my own, I'd give Bokhára and Samarḳand."^[24]

In fact, although in the great Persian narrative epics and romances the love interest was always female, there was also a long tradition of love poetry in both Arabic^[25] and Persian in which, in the great majority of cases, the person whose beauty was praised was male.^[26] Among the Persian poets who wrote love poems of this kind were Farrokhi (11th century), Manuchehri (11th century), Sanai (12th century), Anvari (12th century), Iraqi (13th century), Saadi (13th century) and Awhadi (14th century). Often the object of the poet's admiration was described as a "Turk" (Turks were supposed to be especially good-looking),^[27] as in the couplet below from a qasida of Manuchehri (see The Turkish harpist (Manuchehri)):^[28]

بینی آن ترکی که او چون برزند بر چنگ، چنگ

از دل ابدال بگریزد به صد فرسنگ، سنگ

bīni ān Tork-ī ke ū čon barzanad bar čang čang

az del-ē abdāl begrīzad be sad farsang sang

Do you see that Turk, who when he places his hand (čang) on the harp (čang),

from the heart of devotees, a stone flees for a hundred leagues?

Saadi, who like Hafez was from Shiraz, used the phrase "Shirazi Turk" a century before Hafez:^[29][30]

ز دست ترک ختایی کسی جفا چندان

نمی‌برد که من از دست ترک شیرازی

ze dast-e Tork-e Xatā'ī * kas-ī jafā čandān

nemībarad ke man az dast * -e Tork-e Šīrāzī

From a Turk of Khitai no one ever receives so much violence

as I do from the hand of the Shirazi Turk!

Khwaju Kermani, another poet resident in Shiraz a generation before Hafez, wrote:^[31][32]

شیراز ترکستان شده کان بت ز فرخار آمده

Šīrāz Torkestān šode * k-ān bot ze Farxār āmade

Shiraz has become Turkistan * since that "Buddha" has come from Farkhar!

In poems of the early part of the period the object of the poet's love was often a soldier; later he became any kind of adolescent youth, but military metaphors continued to be used to describe the effect his beauty had on the poet.^[26]

Most modern scholars are therefore in agreement that Hafez's "Shirazi Turk" was male. However, there are some exceptions. Leonard Lewisohn, with reference to the Beloved, writes: "Gender is always ambiguous in Persian, but in Hafiz’s verse the Witness is nearly always female".^[33]

Another question is whether the Turk in this poem was really Turkish, and a real person, or simply a poetic invention. The 16th-century Bosnian-Turkish commentator on Hafez, Ahmed Sudi wrote:^[34]

"Turk: the word originally means the Tatar people. Since Tatars are known as cruel, merciless and bloody people, Persian poets metaphorically compare their beloveds to them. And this is why these poets call their beloveds 'Turks'."

But Sudi also reports another theory:

"Some people from Shiraz say that many soldiers in [the Mongol ruler] Hulagu’s army made the city of Shiraz their home and lived there for successive generations. So, literally speaking, it is not incorrect to call their descendants 'Turks of Shiraz'."

A suggestion by Hafez's editor Qasem Ghani that the Turk might have been the son of Shah Shoja', one of the rulers of the time, is dismissed as "improbable" by Hillmann since "Turk" usually simply means "beloved" and that the phrase had already been used by Saadi.^[35]

Arberry (1946) points out that most of the features of this ode are traditional stock motifs from Persian love poetry, and he quotes some lines of Saadi where the same themes recur.

This ode has been admired by numerous scholars and translators. Arberry writes of the last verse: "The 'clasp' theme here used is a very common one, but its present treatment is scarcely surpassed for beauty in the whole Dīvān."^[54] Hillmann writes: "A first impression of the 'Turk of Shiraz' is of a texture of hyperbole, paradox, a sense of the ultimate or perfection, eloquence, and seriousness, with familiar images and conceits given new vitality through new combination and given form by means of verse patterning."^[55]

Some critics, however, have questioned the coherence or unity of the poem, beginning with William Jones's friend and tutor in Persian, Count Károly Reviczky, who wrote in 1768 "I did not translate the poem into Latin verse, on account of the incoherence of the verses". Jones himself in his version used the phrase "Like orient pearls at random strung".^[56] The chief critic in this area is Hillmann, who wrote: "One might conclude that the "Turk of Shiraz" is not a wholly successful poem precisely because it seems lacking in unity, no other aspect or feature of the ghazal having been demonstrated to compensate for this lack."^[57]

Defending the poem from such criticism, Arberry finds only two themes in it: "The principal theme is – the fair charmer, beautiful, proud, unapproachable, the human, this-worldly reflection of the immortal loveliness of the Divine spirit. ... The subsidiary theme is – wine (and music) are the sole consolation of the lover, to compensate his sorrow over the incapacity of his love, and the transitory nature of mundane affairs."^[58] He scorns the idea that the poem has no unity. Rehder finds that rather than thematic unity, the poem has "an obvious unity of thought and mood".^[59]

• Arberry, A. J. (1946). "Orient Pearls at Random Strung." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 11, no. 4 (1946): 704–705.
• Bashiri, Iraj (1979). "Hafiz' Shirazi Turk: A Structuralist's Point of View", The Muslim World, LXIX, 979, pp. 178–97, 248-68.
• Bicknell, Herman (1875). Háfiz of Shiráz: Selections from His Poems. This poem, with notes, is on pp. 20–22.
• Bauer, Thomas (2014). "Male-Male Love in Classical Arabic Poetry". In The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature. (Cambridge University Press).
• Browne, E. G. (1906). A Literary History of Persia, vol. 2. pp. 27–28 has Browne's translation of Shirazi Turk.
• Browne, E. G. (1920 [1928]). A Literary History of Persia, vol. 3: The Tartar Dominion (1265–1502). Cambridge.
• de Bruijn, J. T. P. (2000, updated 2012). “Ḡazal i. History,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, X/4, pp. 354–358
• Clarke, H. W. (1891). The Dīvān-i Hāfiz, Vol. 1, pp. 40–43.
• "EIr" (2004, updated 2012). "Homosexuality in Persian literature". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Elwell-Sutton, L.P. (1976). The Persian Metres. Cambridge University Press.
• Hillmann, Michael C. (1975). "Hafez's 'Turk of Shiraz' again". Iranian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1975), pp. 164–182. (JSTOR)
• Hillmann, Michael C. (1980). "Pseudo-Scholarship in American Hāfez Studies: A Comment. Muslim World, Volume 70, Issue 3‐4, October 1980, pages 267-270.
• Inan, Murat Umut (2018). "Crossing Interpretive Boundaries in Sixteenth-Century Istanbul: Ahmed Sudi on the Divan of Hafiz of Shiraz". Philological Encounters3, (2018), 275–309.
• Ingenito, Domenico (2018)."Hafez's "Shirāzi Turk": A Geopoetical Approach". Iranian Studies.
• Lewis, Franklin (2002, updated 2012). "Hafez viii. Hafez and rendi". Encyclopedia Iranica online.
• Lewisohn, Leonard (ed.) (2010), Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry. I. B. Tauris.
• Limbert, John W. (2004). Shiraz in the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval Persian City. Seattle.
• Loloi, Parvin (2002). "Hafez x. Translations of Hafez in English". Encyclopaedia Iranica online.
• Pritchett, Frances W. (1993). "Orient Pearls Unstrung: The Quest for Unity in the Ghazal". Edebiyât vol. NS 4, pp. 119–135.
• Rehder, R. M. (2009). "The Unity of the Ghazals of Ḥāfiẓ". Der Islam, vol. 51, issue 1.
• Renard, John (2009). The A to Z of Sufism.
• Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1990) "Spelling the Mystery of Time". Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 110, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1990), pp. 401–416. (JSTOR)
• Yarshater, Ehsan (2016) “Ḡazal ii. Characteristics and Conventions”, Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition.