Baba Taher is known as one of the most revered and respectable early poets in Persian literature. Most of his life is clouded in mystery. He probably lived in Hamadan. His nickname, Oryan (The Naked), suggests that he was a wandering dervish, or mystic. One source indicates that he died in 1019. If this is accurate, then Baba Taher is a contemporary of Ferdowsi and Pour Sina (Avicenna) and an immediate precursor of Omar Khayyam.