Persian With El◆Tabriz → MilanoHold a question in your heart, open the Divan, and let a couplet find you. The way Iran has asked for guidance for six hundred years.
When Iranians face a choice or carry a heavy heart, they turn to Hafez of Shiraz. You make a wish, called a niyat, open his Divan at random, and read the ghazal that meets your eye as an answer meant for you.
He is loved so deeply that people call him Lisan al-Ghayb, the tongue of the unseen. On Shab-e Yalda, the longest night, families still stay up reading his fal aloud for the year to come.
Bring your question to mind and hold it in your heart. Keep it silent; you do not say it out loud.
Take one slow breath, a moment of respect for Hafez, before your hand touches the book.
The first ghazal to meet your eye is the answer. Trust it; do not go hunting for a kinder one.
