Omar Khayyam through the Prism of Professor Hossein Sadeghi :

In recent years, through efforts by the renowned Swiss-Iranian cardiothoracic surgeon, Professor Hossein Sadeghi, Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat or quatrain poetry have been published in eight languages which, other than the original, comprise of French, English Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin. Considered the crown jewel of Iran’s rich literature, the Rubaiyat were made famous in the west in the nineteen century by English Poet Edward FitzGerald who magisterially readapted the quatrains to the English language.

Prof Sadeghi’s take is different. His fascination with Rubayiat goes beyond the admiration for Khayyam’s ability to formulate profound philosophical thoughts in concise, accessible and masterfully rhymed quatrains. To grasp the gnostic message in Rubaiyat, he believes, it is essential to understand the preeminence of Khayyam’s scientific standing as mathematician, astronomer and philosopher; Sadeghi juxtaposes Khayyam’s scientific stature with polymaths of Avicenna ilk.

This train of thought brings Professor Sadeghi to conclude that Khayyam’s preoccupation with the undescriptive and unbounded complexities of the cosmos and his fixation with death drove him to the realm of spirituality and transcendental poetry of which the central message to mankind is to cherish that fleeting spell on earth which we all call of our life.

Professor Sadeghi’s multilingual editions of Rubaiyat were published by Guya Publishers in 2010 and by Sokhan publishers in 2013.  A newer edition in sublime calligraphy by Gholam-Hossein Amirkhani and imagery by Mahmoud Farshchian accompanying English and French translations made personally by Prof Sadeghi has been recently published by Guya publishers in Tehran. For more on this edition, click here : calligraphy.