Perception and importance of Hafez's poetry of love in modern Iran and Switzerland

Aims: Falling and being in love is a cross-cultural universal. For Persian and European culture, the poet Khwaja 'ams ud-Din Muhammad Hafez-e 'irazi, or simply Hafez (14th century D.C.), is particularly important. The aim of the present study was to check if and which items of a current questionnaire of love (Helen Fisher's „Being in love Inventory“; 2004) did match Hafiz' themes of love. Second, we explored the importance of these themes in dependence of two different cultures (Iran, Switzerland) and of the gender. Methods: A set of items was presented to Iranian ans Swiss female and male participants (N=325; mean age in years: M=31.3; SD=16.3; 161 Iranian [77 females and 84 males]; 164 Swiss [112 females; 52 males]). The study was performed as an internet-based study. Results: Generally, no differences related to culture could be found. Female participants agreed more with the assumption of love as taking one away from reality. Swiss male participants reported an increased score of ambivalence towards the partner, and Iranian female participants reported an increased score of fear of being betrayed. Conclusions: Hafez's themes of love are still up-to-date;modern cultures (Iran, Switzerland) do generally affirm the actuality of these themes. Our results do also confirm that falling in being in love seems to be a cross-cultural universal, thogh with some sublte cultural and gender-related differences.