Hafez was born in Shiraz sometime between 1310 CE and 1337 CE with the year 1320 CE the most likely. His full name was Khwajeh Shams al-Din Mohammed Hafez-e Shirazi. His father, Baha-ud-Din, was a successful merchant from Isfahan who settled in Shiraz and died there when Hafez was a very young child. In any case, Hafez undoubtedly received a thorough religious education, probably from listening to the recitations of the Qu'ran, as his pen name Hafez derives from the Arabic honorific from Hafiz, which is awarded to anyone who has accomplished the achievement of memorizing the entire Qu'ran. Hafez is the most beloved lyric poet of the Persian poetic tradition. His ghazals, unequaled in their subtlety, refinement, and eloquence, have had a lasting influence on subsequent Persian poetry. The richness of his imagery and the intricate musicality of his lines combine to produce a poetry of inimitable eclat. Hafez's mastery of form and his verbal virtuosity are what make his poetry so irresistible. Most scholars agree that Hafez died in Shiraz at the age of sixty-nine in 1389 CE.
