Religious and moral criticism of poetry and the relationship between poetry and Religious Law is one of the important issues that various poets and scholars have addressed in the history of literary criticism. One of these poets is Hakim Azari Esfarayeni, who wrote a treatise in defense of poetry in 830 AH, in which he raised significant points in defense of the value, status, and function of poetry, which are valuable from the perspective of the history of literary criticism in Persian Literature. In this treatise, he seeks to legitimize poetry by finding a place alongside revelation and hadiths (Narrations), and to shed light on the verses and hadiths that have been mentioned in denouncing and condemning the poets. To defend poetry, he cites reasons based on the sanctity of poetry, such as the prophets and saints being poets, the Prophet and Imams giving gifts to poets, the souls of poets believing in Islam, and supernatural stories based on the perfection of the spiritual level of poets. In addition to these reasons, he cites other reasons such as references to poetry in texts, the dependence of music on poetry, the reception of audiences, and the high status of poets among past kings. In addition to these, Azari, with the same religious perspective, mentions two characteristics for the poets of these poems, which are having research and success together and having access to divine perfection, beauty, and glory.
Literary Criticism