The poet, mathematician, and astronomer, Abu al-Fath Omar ibn Ebrahim Khayyam, known as Khayyam, was born in AD 1041 in the city of Nishapur in northern Iran and passed away around the year AD 1123. He was a genius mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher with a heart desirous of truth and justice, the very paragon of his age. He computed the Jalali solar calendar, which is still in use in many countries. He lived before the flourishing era of mysticism in Persian literature, and being inspired by Greek philosophy and other fields of knowledge early in his life, his take on life was realistic. As an audacious freethinker, he never yielded to any religious and dogmatic cliques prevailing among the populace. Moreover, he deeply felt nostalgic for the ancient Persian civilization crushed by the Arab invasion and so, following other authorities such as Avicenna, took a substantive part in the movement founded by Ferdowsi under the aegis of Khajeh Nezam al-Molk to restore Persian culture to its former glory.