Lecture
Hafez and the Critique of the Ruler and the Ascetic; Kaveh Behbahani
This lecture offers a reading of Hafez in relation to the critique of political power and religious hypocrisy. At a scholarly gathering commemorating Hafez, Kaveh Behbahani examines the place of the critique of the ruler and the ascetic within Hafez's intellectual and poetic world.
About this video
In this video, Kaveh Behbahani, at a scholarly gathering commemorating Hafez, addresses one of the central themes of Hafez's poetry: the critique of the ruler and the ascetic. The discussion focuses on how Hafez, through poetic language, both questions political power and critiques religious pretense and hypocritical asceticism.
In this reading, Hafez is not merely a poet of love and beauty, but a poet who, through the language of ambiguity, humor, irony, and literary finesse, reveals the relationship between power, ethics, religion, and freedom. The critique of the ascetic in Hafez's poetry signifies a critique of outward religiosity and performative morality, and the critique of the ruler is linked to the issues of tyranny, power, and injustice.
The significance of this lecture lies in its reading of Hafez in relation to the living issues of Iranian culture and society. This program is suitable for those interested in Hafez, Persian literature, moral philosophy, religion, politics, and cultural criticism.
