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Fal-e Hafez: The Oracle of Shiraz
Hardcover
General DivinationGeneral Poetry
ISBN13: 9781764578264
Publisher: Vizcroft Publishing
Published: Oct 1 2026
Pages: 746
Weight: 2.56
Height: 1.75 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
For six centuries, the people of Iran have turned to a single book in moments of uncertainty. It is not a religious text, nor a book of spells. It is a collection of poetry - and it is found in almost every Iranian home, often placed beside the Quran. When faced with a difficult decision, a broken heart, or a crossroads, one does not simply read Hafez. One consults him.
The practice is called Fal-e Hafez - the omen of Hafez. Hold a question in your heart, close your eyes, and open the book at random. The poem on the page is your answer: a mirror held up to your own soul, reflecting back the truth you already knew but could not see.
The poet was Khwaja Shams-ud-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi (c. 1325-1390) - Sufi master, a scholar who had memorised the Quran entire (Hafez means one who has memorised), and the greatest lyric poet of the Persian language. He is known as Lisan al-Ghayb, the Tongue of the Unseen. His ghazals operate on several levels at once: a poem about wine may be earthly pleasure, the intoxication of divine love, or a veiled critique of religious hypocrisy - often all three in a single verse. That ambiguity is what makes him the perfect oracle.
This edition is the first complete modern English translation of the Divan. All 495 ghazals, presented in the original Persian en face with the English - made to exacting rules that preserve the original's metre, imagery, and layered meanings. No selections. No paraphrase. Every ghazal, complete, in a fully retranslated second edition.
I didn't grow up in a tradition that taught me how to listen. I grew up in the noise. The notifications. The endless scroll. The feeling that something was wrong but no one would say what. I found the old things. The poetry of Hafez. The way a single line of verse, drawn at random, could land in my chest like it had been waiting there for centuries. The oracle doesn't predict your future. It asks you to be present for it. That is the whole work. - from the Foreword by Alex Vizcroft
Step out of the noise. Ask your question. Open the book.
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