Figure 10 Illustration of King
Shahryar and Scheherazad
Figure 11 Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam by Edward FitzGerald
Authors that created magic during the Golden Age include Anvari, Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Sa’di, Jalaloddin
Rumi, Abu Nuwas, Faridoddin Attar and Omar Khayyam. Awhad ad-Din (better
known as Anvari) was well known for his skills in writing qasidas along with several other poetic structures and the author of “Tears of Khorastan”. The creator of
“Shahnameh” (Book of Kings), still widely read and well-known internationally,
Abolqasem Ferdowsi is considered to be one of the greatest Persian poets of all times. In the area of prose, Persian author Sa’di was well known for his two texts,
“Bustan” and the “Golestan”. Jalaloddin Rumi is believed
to the greatest mystical poet of Persia and was famous
for his religious insight as well as poetry. His poetic talents were explored only after his experience with three
spiritual friends. Abu Nawas became a Hafiz (memorized
the Quran) at a very young age and was extremely accom-
Figure 12 Omar Khayyam
plished with Arabic. He was well-known for it and is considered one of the greatest poets of his time. Faridoddin Attar was not very popular
during his time, but gained immense recognition in recent times as a great poet
and mystic. Omar Khayyam was a mathematician, scientist, astronomer, philosopher and poet. He is best known in literature for his rubaiyat (poetry of two-line
stanza with two parts per line, also called quatrains in English) are renowned especially through the translation of Edward FitzGerald (1989).