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Omar Khayyam 1040-1134. (Post 303)

Omar Khayyam (1040-1134) a Mathematician, a philosopher, scholar of Islam  and a poet was born in Naishapur, Iran. He Wrote a treatise entitled "Demonstration of Problems of Algebra" (1070) and on the "Triangular array of binomial coefficient known as Pascal's triangle". In 1077 he produced another work, "Explanations of the Difficulties in the Postulates of Euclid", and on "theory of proportions". He also wrote on religion, music and astronomy.
Contemporaries included Al Bairuni (973-1048) a philosopher and scientist, who calculated the circumference of the earth quite accurately. He wrote widely on topics including Hindus(religion, Medicine,  philosophy etc.). Abu Sina (Avicenna 980-1057) a great physician, a philosopher and a Sufi, wrote on Islam, Philosophy and the famous Canon of Medicine. Al Ghazali (1058-1111) was a philosopher and a great teacher of Islam.

Omar Khayyam is best known for his Rubayats  translated by Edward Fitzgerald in the 1880s. Sufi poetry has lot of references  to wine and love, more so in Hafiz(1325–1389) and Omar Khayyam. However their wine did not come from a bottle but a mystical experience.  Love is Love of God (Ishque Allah). Sufis were not on a full time mystical  mode. They were teachers, writers, scientists, Philosophers, Physicians, and scholars of Islam. Not all Sufis were poets and not all scholars of Islam were poets.
Here is a selection from his Rubayat. Khaliq, Dec 2017.

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discussed  
Of the two worlds so wisely—they are thrust 
Like foolish prophets forth; their words to scorn 
Are scattered, and their mouths are stopped  with dust.

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