Existentialism in the Quatrains of Khayyam

Existentialism (philosophy of existence principality) is one of the most influential (effective) philosophical and literary schools of the world in 21th century that originated and developed in European countries, particularly Germany and France. In this philosophical-literary school the individual is known as a knowing subject (agent) who, in the experience of existence and understanding the meaning of existence encounters the truth of life and discovers the absurdity of his life. Then, based on respect for “freedom”, and also using the possibility of choice, man has selected his objective, and in this way, applies meaning to a series of events and incidents that are called “life”. Hakim Omar Khayyam, the Iranian poet and thinker in the second half of the fifth and the beginning of sixth century AH (twelfth century AD), is considered the pioneer of existentialism in the middle centuries due to his fundamental philosophical inquiry about human existence and the beginning and end of the world, and also the implicit and approximate faith in human role in determining his direction with an emphasis on sequential messages and recommendations based on the idea of “Seize the Day” in his (Khayyam) quatrains.This study is an attempt to indicate the coincidence of prominent themes of existentialism with the philosophical ideas proposed by the Khayyam in his quatrains.