Dars-i Hafiz: Naqd va sharḥ-i ghazal-hā-yi Ḥāfiẓ Persian 2024

Lessons in Hafez: A Critical Commentary on the Ghazals of Khwaja Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez, by Mohammad Este‘lami, is a two-volume commentary on the poetry of Hafez, written to help readers both read the poems accurately and understand them more fully. Este‘lami avoids unnecessarily dense specialist language, making the work accessible to readers who may not be academic specialists while still maintaining a scholarly level of analysis.

In his commentary on each ghazal, Este‘lami goes beyond explaining individual words and expressions. He also considers the grammatical structure of the verses, Qur’anic and hadith references, historical reports and traditions, the earlier literary background of particular themes, and the relationship of each poem to the intellectual and social world of Hafez’s time. In his view, an adequate understanding of Hafez requires attention to the cultural and intellectual context in which the poetry was produced.

One of the distinctive features of the book is its attention to the overall mood and internal coherence of each ghazal. This approach encourages readers to see the poem not simply as a sequence of independent couplets, but as a more unified structure of meaning. The explanatory prose is deliberately kept clear and readable, making the work suitable for a broad audience of Hafez enthusiasts.

Lessons in Hafez is published in two volumes. Volume One contains four introductory essays and commentaries on ghazals 1–250, while Volume Two covers ghazals 251–495 and includes the indexes. In addition to general readers, the work is useful for students and teachers of Persian language and literature, as well as readers seeking a more systematic approach to studying and teaching the Divan of Hafez.