poetry

The dawn wind wafts the scent of the New Year / to friends’ delight and triumphant good cheer.

Iran

“A door to which I found no key:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:32

Juan Cole

Not you nor I have known the secrets of eternity. / Not you nor I have solved the riddle that the letter hides

Abbasid Empire

Literature from Islamic Societies embraced homoerotic Love until the 19th century. What happened?

The Conversation

Attitudes towards homosexuality in early Islamic societies were complex

Iran

“Through the Seventh Gate:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:31

Juan Cole

From earth’s dark depths to Saturn’s pinnacle / I solved the puzzles of the turning skies.

Christianity

For Christmas: Jesus’ Life-Giving Breath and Persian Love Poetry

Juan Cole

Muslim mystics such as Rumi, Attar and other Sufi writers often referred to Jesus as a symbol of spirituality and love.

Iran

“Another Cup to Drown the Memory:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:30

Juan Cole

No. 30 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues the theme of bewilderment that we find ourselves, unasked, in the world, without a clear idea of the meaning of this life. The English verses portray these acts of being born and dying “without asking” as “impertinence,” i.e. insolence or […]

Omar Khayyam

“Into this Universe:” Heidegger and FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:29

Juan Cole

One recurrent theme in the unconventional quatrains that were later gathered under the rubric of the The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is surprise at having come into being unasked, and at being sentenced to non-being at the end of this bewildering life. This sentiment to my mind is a sign of medieval Persian secularism. The […]

Culture

Rumi and Shakespeare: On Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Juan Cole

This essay first appeared at Renovatio, a humanities publication of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Ca. Thanks to Hamza Yusuf and Safir Ahmad. NB the hyperlinks in the footnotes don’t work, but the numbers are accurate and notes are at the end. Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273) has sometimes been called “the Shakespeare of the East.” The […]

Entertainment

“With them the seed of Wisdom:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:28

Juan Cole

Quatrain no. 28 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues riffing on stanza 121 in the Bodleian manuscript. XXVIII. With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour’d it to grow : And this was all the Harvest that I reap’d- “I came […]