Sufi Persian Poet Umar i Khayyam

1. Umar-I Khayyam (1048-1131)
CELEBRATED SCHOLAR
PHILOSOPHER
THEOLOGIST
WROTE IN ARABIC ABOUT MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, METAPHYSICS

2. Umar Khayyam’s Quatrains
 The epitome of Persian Poetry to many Western readers.
 Were adapted by Edward FitzGerald in his book called Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
published in 1859.
* Were reprinted many times.
* Translated in many languages worldwide.
* His fame began to spread from the Victorian England

3. Lack of Documentary
 Earliest reference : Imad Ad-Din Isfahani’s Al Qasr, an Anthology of Arabic Poetry
 By some 12th century Arabic writers
 Towards the end of 12th century, theologian Fakhr Ad-Din Razi cited a single quatrain in his book, under
Khayyam’s name
 Najm Ad-Din Daya, cites a few of his quatrains in Mirsad al-ibad, Min al-Mabda’ El al-Ma’aad

4. During late 14th century
 Anthologists could trace 13 quatrains in a book called Mu’nis al-ahrar, and
another anonymously written book called Nuzhat al-maja’alis, that had recorded
31 quatrains under his name.

5. Fitzgerald’s source:
 The famous manuscript of Bodleian Library (1460) contains 158 poems of Khayyam.
 Anthology of Tarabkhana (1462) collected 554 Robaiyat of Khayyam.
 The number increased later on.

6. But why so inaccurate?
 Vladimir Zhukovsky, a professor at St. Petersburg university started a research that
said:
“ a lot of Khayyam’s quatrains could be attributed in medieval manuscripts to other
poets.”
Thus a substantial group of poems were identified as “ wandering quatrains”
That referred to poems of multiple attribution.
True authorship of them is impossible to establish.
But if these facts are acknowledged, then Khayyam’s place in history of Persian
Literature must be respectfully redefined by westerns.

7. Is Khayyam’s poetic Persona a Sufi ?
 The speaking persona in his Quatrains can be called a worldly famous scientist and
metaphysician, who at the end of his life starts an endeavor to grasp the Rationale,
behind the Universe, that ends up doubting human mind’s ability to solve the
“enigmas” of the universe presented to him in this world, in which he had a
transitory existence.

8. Is the Persona some how connected to
Sufism ?
 The first western translator with mystical interpretations of his Quatrains:
J.B Nicolas ( lived in Persia for a while as a consul.)
He published his book in 1867.
It contained 464 Quatrains of Khayyam.
His interpretations were in contradiction with FitzGerald’s, but still had their own followers
worldwide.
They represented Khayyam as an skeptic seeking a remedy for his disillusion with the world.
It connects the Persona in Khayyam’s Quatrains to Sufism. Plus themes like vanity of the
world, transience of life and insufficiency of human mind that strengthens the claim.

9. Sufism poetry themes in a Quatrain by
Khayyam:
 The circle of our coming and our going
 Has no beginning and shall have no end
 No one can ever n this world explain
 Whence was this coming and to where is the going
- cited by the mystical poet, Najm ad-Din Daya

10. Another proof:
 Farid ad-Din Attar, the great Sufi poet in his didactical poem, Ilahi-nama
Tells about a traveler who stands at Khayyam’s grave and saw him in a “state of
imperfection”, bathing in his sweat, telling the traveler how embarrassed he was when at
the gate of his heavenly learning he realized how ignorant he really was.

11. Other Sufi poets earlier than Khayyam:
 Abu Ali ibn-I Sina, known to the west as Avicenna, has written a few number of
short Persian poems including Quatrains.
 Abd Allah Ansa’ari of Herat & Abul-Hasan Kharaqani, are other Sufi Sheikhs
who have written Quatrains, as well.