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The Qur'an
the Qur'an
also: قرآن, Koran
The scripture of Islam, 'the supreme word.' Khayyam invokes it slyly, setting its intermittent readers against the constant readers of the verse around the wine-cup.
Reading notes
- The Rubaiyat §3 Qur'an
The scripture of Islam, 'the supreme word' (mahin kalam). The quatrain plays the Qur'an's occasional readers against the verse around the cup, read 'for ever' — Persian mudam, which means both 'constantly' and 'wine.'