"It is said that when he was twenty-one and working as a baker’s assistant, Hafiz delivered some bread to a mansion and happened to catch a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful girl on the terrace. That one glimpse captured his heart, and he fell madly in love with her, though she did not even notice him. She was from a wealthy noble family, and he was a poor baker’s assistant. She was beautiful, he was short and physically unattractive—the situation was hopeless.
As months went by, Hafiz made up poems and love songs celebrating her beauty and his longing for her. People heard him singing his poems and began to repeat them; the poems were so touching that they became popular all over Shiraz. Hafiz was oblivious of his new fame as a poet; he thought only of his beloved.
Desperate to win her, he undertook an arduous spiritual discipline that required him to keep a vigil at the tomb of a certain saint all night long for forty nights. It was said that anyone who could accomplish this near-impossible austerity would be granted his heart’s desire. Every day Hafiz went to work at the bakery.
Every night he went to the saint’s tomb and willed himself to stay awake for love of this girl. His love was so strong that he succeeded in completing this vigil. At daybreak on the fortieth day, the archangel Gabriel appeared before Hafiz and told him to ask for whatever he wished. Hafiz had never seen such a glorious, radiant being as Gabriel.
He found himself thinking, “If God’s messenger is so beautiful, how much more beautiful must God be!”Gazing on the unimaginable splendor of God’s angel, Hafiz forgot all about the girl, his wish, everything. He said, “I want God!”
Gabriel then directed Hafiz to a spiritual teacher who lived in Shiraz. The angel told Hafiz to serve this teacher in every way and his wish would be fulfilled. Hafiz hurried to meet his teacher, and they began their work together that very day."
- The Gift: Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master
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