Very few men arise in any given millennia who make a mark on the world as profoundly as did Omar Khayyam. He was born on 18 May 1048 in Nishapur, the initial capital of the Seljuk Empire. He lived during the rule of the Seljuk dynasty, around the time of the First Crusade and died 4 December 1131.
In tribute, there is a statue of Khayyam in United Nations Office in Vienna as a part of Persian Scholars Pavilion.
Omar Khayyam was a Persian polymath who made contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and poetry. On this website, we can only shine a light on a tiny amount of his poetry writings, all of which have inspired, intrigued, motivated, and enlightened the world for almost a thousand years.
It is through his poetry that he became widely known from the translation into English by Edward FitzGerald (1859) titled FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam contains loose translations of quatrains from the Bodleian manuscript.
The Rubaiyat, an Arabic word meaning four, is a form of verse which follows an Arabic form of poetry. In this type of poetry, each verse is a separate entity and carries its own message.
If you want to find out more, no better place to start than Wikipedia here:
And I present below a selection of verses here that I found intriguing and questioning enough that perhaps will whet your appetite to go and check out the wonderful works of this amazing man who lived a thousand years ago and we still revere the huge body of works that he left as his legacy and gift to mankind.
“And do you think that unto such as you
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew
God gave a secret, and denied it me?
Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too!”
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“Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End!
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Alike for those who for To-day prepare,
And those that after some To-morrow stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.”
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“Your hand can seize today, but not tomorrow; and thoughts of your tomorrow are nothing but desire. Don’t waste this breath, if your heart isn’t crazy, since "the rest of your life" won’t last forever.”
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“Drink wine. This is life eternal. This is all that youth will give you. It is the season for wine, roses and drunken friends. Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
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“As far as you can avoid it, do not give grief to anyone. Never inflict your rage on another. If you hope for eternal rest, feel the pain yourself; but don’t hurt others.”
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“Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet.”
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“Beyond the earth, beyond the farthest skies
I try to find Heaven and Hell.
Then I hear a solemn voice that says:
"Heaven and hell are inside.”
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“Realise this: one day your soul
will depart from your body and you will
be drawn behind the curtain that floats between us
and the unknown. While you wait for that moment, be happy,
because you don't know where you came from and
you don't know where you will be going.”
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“O friend, for the morrow let us not worry
This moment we have now, let us not hurry
When our time comes, we shall not tarry
With seven thousand-year-olds, our burden carry”
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“Why ponder thus the future to foresee, and jade thy brain to vain perplexity? Cast off thy care, leave Allah’s plans to him – He formed them all without consulting thee.” Three Cups of Tea”
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