In Iranian Jalali calendar, today, Mehr 20, is Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī’s commemoration day. He is also known and famous as Hafez.

He is one of mythical poets of Iran not only known inside the country but well known in many countries.

His collected works are regarded by many Iranians as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are often found in the homes of people in the Persian-speaking world, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings. His life and poems have become the subjects of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-14th century Persian writing more than any other author.

Hafez is best known for his poems that can be described as “antinomian” and with the medieval use of the term “theosophical”; the term “theosophy” in the 13th and 14th centuries was used to indicate mystical work by “authors only inspired by the holy books” (as distinguished from theology).

Hafez primarily wrote in the literary genre of lyric poetry or ghazals, that is the ideal style for expressing the ecstasy of divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems. He was a Sufi.

See how the roses burn!

Bring the wine to quench the fire!

Alas the flames come up with us,

We perish with desire.

Hafez