Omar Khayyam, the great Persian philosopher and mathematician, has been a force of influence for centuries. Arguably best known for his writings, the 11th-century thinker is believed to have written about a thousand rubaiyat (quatrains) or four-line verses — famously referred to as Rubaiyat Omar Khayyam — which are still considered relevant today. In the Arab world these rubaiyat are wildly popular and anyone interested in poetry and literature can attest to their grandeur and magic. In fact, there have been numerous translations of his work.
One particular individual who fell under their spell at the young age of 10 is Mohammad Saleh Al Gurg, an Emirati thinker and writer who is a an expert when it comes to Khayyam's writings. So much so that he recently published his own translations of Khayyam's rubaiyat from Persian to Arabic in a book which is now available to purchase. The book also includes the rubaiyat in English and French, which certainly adds to its appeal.
Weekend Review recently visited Al Gurg at his home in Jumeirah to discuss his book and find out more about his literary passions. It was great to see his impressive library which houses hundreds of books, old and new, on the Middle East, the Quran and of course a dedicated collection on Khayyam (books in English, French, Persian, and Arabic). "I am constantly searching for different translations of Omar Khayyam's work — everywhere from Paris to London," he tells me.
Al Gurg, who is now in his seventies, fondly recalls his early years in Dubai. Soon after we sit down for the interview, he shows us documents of his grandfather's land deeds. In 1893 (or as the documents state, the Islamic year 1314), his grandfather purchased a piece of land in Sharjah.
Early life
Al Gurg was born in Dubai near what is now Al Souq Al Kabeer in Bur Dubai. Using an old map from the mid-1940s he points out where his home was on the shore of the Creek, on the site where much later the BBME building (now the Bank of Baroda building) was built. This was next to the concrete one-storey office of Gray Mackenzie, the Inchcape Group trading company which was contracted to run the Dubai port and manage the customs.
Mirza Saleh was the Gray Mackenzie agent at the time, Al Gurg recalls. In those days ships were the only means of travel, and if someone wanted to travel abroad, they would have to be taken out to the big ships from the Creek and then go to Bahrain or Kuwait to catch a flight to destinations such as Cairo or London.
The Al Gurg home had three sections, a summer room, a winter room and a room for visitors. In the 1930s and 1940s, life was very different from that of modern Dubai. For example, the Creek had not yet been dredged, so it was possible for the very young Al Gurg to swim almost every day from Bur Dubai across to Shindagha, and if the tide was low, he could take a rest by standing on the shallow sand bars in the middle of the Creek!
Information from outside was hard to come by in those days. Al Gurg remembers that during the Second World War only three or four families owned radios and TV was non-existent. So people would huddle around the radios to listen to the latest news, with some supporting the Allies and others the Axis.
Islamic studies
There were also two schools during that time: Al Falah in Bur Dubai (where the Ambassador Hotel stands today) and Al Ahmadiya in Deira. While Al Gurg's older brother Abdullah opted to go to school and complete university in Aden, Yemen, where the family had relatives, Al Gurg and his brother Eisa attended Al Falah. At the time, the schools in Dubai emphasised Arabic language and Islamic studies along with maths. Every year they would progress to the next level and one of the main requirements for advancement was the memorising of the Quran.
From a very young age Al Gurg showed an interest in Arabic language and literature, in part sparked by his father's large collection of books. Saleh Al Gurg was a calligrapher and bookbinder who was fascinated by literature and the power of words.
Interestingly, if you ask Al Gurg which of the books he has come across is a must-read, he says: Kaleela wa Dimna, by Abdullah Ibn Al Muqaffa. The book comprises a series of conversations between animals that carry underlying messages of life-lessons and advice.
The first book Al Gurg purchased was the Tour of the Near East by Mohammad Thabet Al Masri (published in 1934). He first read it in the early 1950s and still has a few copies of it in his library. The book was brought from Bahrain as books were not easy to buy in Dubai then. Later, in his late teens, Al Gurg travelled to Cairo for two weeks on the first of many trips to Egypt during the 1950s and 1960s which allowed him to rub shoulders with the great Arab writers and intellectuals. At the time, he was perhaps one of two Emiratis who visited Egypt. The powerful impact of those years can still be felt in him today.
How did he pick up Farsi? Remarkably, not by studying it in school or learning it in a professional setting, but by interacting with Iranians and Arabs who spoke Farsi in the UAE during the 1950s and 1960s. That Dubai has always been a hub of people of various nationalities and backgrounds is relevant here. Al Gurg also says Khayyam forced him to look at the original work and learn the language.
Khayyam's work means a great deal to him. He was introduced to the distinctive work through his father's friend, a scholar named Shaikh Mohammad Al Qanbari, who visited them frequently in the late 1940s. Al Qanbari would always bring two suitcases, Al Gurg recalls, one for his clothes and the other for his books. He used to always read from Khayyam's work translated by Mohammad Al Subai'i. It didn't take long before Al Gurg became infatuated with the poetry. Subsequently, he always looked for Khayyam's work in his travels, whether to the Middle East or Europe.
Other than Khayyam, Al Gurg is also influenced by the works of the great Arab poet Abu Al Tayyeb Al Mutanabi, considered the greatest Arab poet who ever lived; Abu Ala'a Al Ma'arri from the Abbasid period: and Egyptian poet Ahmad Shawqi, nicknamed the prince of poets, from recent history.
First job
Al Gurg's first job was in the Imperial Bank of Iran (later renamed the British Bank of the Middle East, now part of HSBC) in the early 1950s. His next job took him to Sharjah where he joined the British Political Agency, the predecessor to the modern-day consulate general, which had not yet moved to its present-day site in Dubai.
Al Gurg was the Passport Officer and stayed with the Political Agency for 16 years, interacting with hundreds of people as they applied for travel documents. Because his job was in Sharjah, daily commute from Dubai would have been too difficult, he stayed in Sharjah during the week, and came back to his family for the Friday weekend. He has fond memories of that time, although he points out that Sharjah was simpler than Dubai, which had the trade industry, was more open and had a mixed population.
Fast forward to 2012 and Al Gurg is still hard at work. He is putting together a book — a collection of his columns (he wrote a weekly column for more than 12 years in the UAE Sports and Youth magazine titled A little of a lot). His other projects include publishing a book on Arabic proverbs and another on description in Arabic poetry.
Al Gurg is still excited by the power of words, and feels it is very important to increase everyone's access to literary work as good as Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat. Anyone interested in poetry would enjoy his book for its simplicity and accessibility.
