“Only a man at peace with his Creator could find sleep in a place of worship.” — In his stunning historical fiction Samarkand, Amin Maalouf crafts a historically-based story about Omar Kayyam during the time he was composing his famous Rubaiyat. Omar Kayyam was an 11th century poet, astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician. In the fictionalized account, Omar has been accused of insulting Islam (for many reasons including…