Literature

In a recent recitation, many of the great figures of Persian poetry and literature (Ferdowsi, Hafez, Rumi, Nezami, and others) were claimed to be sacrificed in honor of the poet of the verse “From my soul I smell the scent of Karbala at every moment”! Sadly, for years such anti-Iranian and divisive remarks have been repeated in religious gatherings—gatherings often backed by official institutions.

In several of his verses, Hafez honors Adam and Eve, seeing their defiance not as disgrace, but as a dignified, even sacred, act. Had Adam and Eve remained in paradise, humanity would never have known its vast achievements. There would have been no thought, no art, no will, no poetry. We would have been creatures circling endlessly in an eternal garden, avoiding a forbidden tree.