The Mask of Hypocrisy in Hafez's View

Heaven forbid they shut the tavern doors only to open the house of deceit and hypocrisy. Hafez urges people to avoid hypocrisy, deceit and pretense.

Because in hypocrisy, the real intention of a person is in conflict with the apparent intention, and it causes a person to be emptied of the essence of humanity. The word "hypocrisy" is repeated five times [1] in the Qur'an, three times in the infinitive and twice in the present tense, and in all five times it means a modern term.

in Hafez Diwan; 22 times the word hypocrisy and 6 times the word tzawir 2 times tzawir and veria are found together. He has also brought Roy Varia together. [2] Of course, in many verses, the concept of hypocrisy is expressed without using its word. In all cases hypocrisy has been condemned and made ugly.

In the Holy Qur'an, hypocrisy is considered a secret polytheism and causes invalidity of action and deprivation of God's love. Deception and hypocrisy not only harms the possessor of these characteristics, but also causes others to make mistakes in adjusting relationships with the hypocrite. Among the three verbal, belief and actual lies, hypocrisy may be both a verbal lie, a belief lie and an actual lie.

Imam Ali (a.s.) says in the 32nd sermon of Nahj al-Balagha: Another group seeks the world through the deeds of the hereafter, and they do not seek to acquire the spiritual positions of the hereafter by the deeds of the world, they make themselves appear small and humble. They take hypocritical and short steps, fold their skirts, dress themselves like true believers, and use the divine veil as a means of hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and worldliness.[3] Therefore, Hafez believes that "the fire of asceticism and hypocrisy will burn the harvest of religion" and advises everyone to avoid it.

Hojowiri wrote in Kashf al-Majjub: "So if this dress is for God to know you that you are special to Him, He will know you unclothed, and if it is for the purpose of showing the creation that I belong to, then if you are, you are a hypocrite, and if you are not, you are a hypocrite." [4]

Hafez considers hypocrisy to be the fire of the threshing floor of religion, and the way to escape from hypocrisy is to remove the cloak of hypocrisy.

The fire of asceticism and hypocrisy will burn the threshing floor of religion

Hafiz, throw away this pashmina cloak and go [5]

In Alchemy of Happiness, Ghazali considers hypocrisy in worship not to worship the creator, but to worship the created: "Know that hypocrisy in obedience to the Almighty is one of the great and is close to polytheism, and there is no disease more prevalent in the hearts of the pious than that when they perform a worship, they want people to know about it and believe in them as pious, and since the purpose of worship was the belief of the people, it was not the worship itself, but the worship of the people."[6]

Ghazali, who compares the movement of some types of hypocrisy in human existence to "Dabib al-Naml", that is, the silent and peaceful movement of an ant [7], believes that just as a person does sins and ugly deeds secretly and away from the eyes of others, if he does worship and good deeds away from the eyes of others and for the sake of God, hypocrisy is cured." But the practical remedy was that he keeps his charity and obedience so hidden that someone It has obscenities and hidden sins[8]

Hafez considers hypocrisy to be a trap from which it is very difficult to get rid of it, and he considers the companionship of spirit and hypocrisy to be companionship with the unkind.

I will rip this hypocritical clown, what should I do?

Indecent talk is a grievous torment to the soul.[9]

According to Hafez, getting rid of this trap, which Satan has spread to ensnare man, is possible only with the help of God.

The trap is hard, unless God's grace is a friend

And no, no one is saved by the evil devil [10]

In hypocrisy, there is a contradiction between the intention and the action, which makes the principle of the action worthless. That's why Hafez believes that it takes hard work to be honest and hypocritical.

who did a good deed without hypocrisy [11]

In Hafiz's view, open sin, which causes the sinner's humility, is preferable to hypocritical worship and good deeds:

Mei Khor, who is Sheikh, Hafiz, Mufti and Mohtasib

Because if you look carefully, everyone is cheating [12]

Hafez's constant conflict with the hypocrites has been repeatedly recounted everywhere in the Diwan. Among the contemporary scholars and mystics, the late Ayatollah Bahauddini always and his most frequent advice was not to act. Hypocrisy, pretense and acting, not only leads a person from paying attention to the Creator to paying attention to others, but also leads him to the valley of oblivion.

Rumi also considers hypocrisy to be like the momentary light of lightning that cannot be walked in the shadow of that light. Riya considers the world and the people of the world, who are both unfaithful, useless.

This world and its people are fruitless

Both of them are unfaithful [13]

According to Hafez, the only way to cure hypocrisy is love for the Prophet Haqq, because in the shadow of love, all the focus of a person is directed to the beloved, and he avoids love for anything else that causes hypocrisy. It is seeing the other that makes hypocrisy easier:

The sign of the people of God is love, carry it with you

I do not see this sign in the elders of the city [14]

[1] Nisa 38, 142, Ma'un 6, Baqarah 265 and Anfal 47

[2] In many verses of Hafez's Divan, words such as pride, hypocrisy, and salus are also used to mean hypocrisy.

[3] And among them are those who seek the worldly by the deeds of the Hereafter, and do not seek the Hereafter by the deeds of the world, the height of a person and a relative. From his mistake and shame from his reward and adornment from his soul for faithfulness and taking the veil of God as a means to sin.

[4] Hojuwiri Ghaznavi; Ali bin Othman bin Ali Jalabi; Kashf al-Mahjub; by the efforts of Mohammad Hossein Tasbihi; Publications of Persian Research Center of Iran and Pakistan; 1374; Islamabad; to have a cover; P. 58

[6] Ghazali Tusi; Abu Hamid Imam Mohammad, Alchemy of Happiness, by Khedive Jam, Tehran, 1380, Scientific and Cultural Publications, 9th edition, Volume 2, p. 207

[7] The same; P. 222 Taken from the hadith of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) Na َّ الشِّرَ اخفي من دبيبِ النَّملِ علي صفةٍ سوداَ في ليلةٍ إلماعَ Indeed, shirk is more imperceptible than the walking of an ant on a black stone in a dark night.