The wine of wisdom pdf download

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The Wine of

Wisdom

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related titles Rumi: Past and Present, East and West, Franklin D. Lewis, ISBN 1–––6

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The Wine of

Wisdom The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of

Omar Khayyam

MEHDI A MINRAZAVI

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I humbly dedicate this work to the democratic movement of the people of Iran. May Khayyam’s spirit of freethinking prevail in our native land.

the wine of wisdom Oneworld Publications (Sales and Editorial) Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England rushbrookrathbone.co.uk © Mehdi Aminrazavi All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN 1–––0 Typeset by Jayvee, India Cover design by Design Deluxe Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press Ltd NL08

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Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction

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1. Khayyam’s Life and Works

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2. Reconstructing a Tarnished Image: Omar Khayyam According to his Contemporaries and Biographers

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3. Khayyam within the Intellectual Context of his Time

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4. The Ruba‘iyyat

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5. Khayyam and Sufism



6. Khayyam’s Philosophical Thought



7. Khayyam the Scientist



8. Khayyam in the West



Epilogue



Appendix A: Translations of the Philosophical Treatises Appendix B: The Ruba‘iyyat – Edward FitzGerald’s Translation Appendix C: Arabic Poems of Omar Khayyam Notes Bibliography Index



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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who assisted me with this project. In thanking them chronologically they are: Muh. ammad Ismaili, who assisted me in finding rare articles in the libraries of Iran inaccessible to me; for their administrative support, our secretary Cindy Toomey, our skilled interlibrary loan officer Carla Baily and graphic designer June T. Padgett; and our students Gretchen Schwemer, Shahla Chohan, Lindsay Biddinger, Shannon MacMichael, Patrick Shepherd, Stephanie Van Hook and Zeke Kassock who have all been very helpful. I am grateful to Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr for his suggestions on an early draft of this work, and Professor Suzanne Sumner of our Mathematics Department for her suggestions on Chapter Seven. I am particularly indebted to my dear colleague and friend, Professor David Cain for his most thorough reading of this book and his numerous suggestions. Much of the revisions made in the final edition are due to his diligence. Finally, I am thankful to the University of Mary Washington for a grant that enabled me to complete some of the research pertaining to Chapter Eight. Mehdi Aminrazavi University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg, VA

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ϮΟ ήΘϤ̯ ήϫΩ ί΍έ ϭ ̵Ϯ̳ ̶ϣ ϭ Ώήτϣ ΚϳΪΣ ΍έ ΎϤόϣ Ϧϳ΍ ΖϤ̰ΤΑ β̯ ΪϳϮθ̴ϧϭ ΖγΩΎθ̴ϧ Ϫ̯

Speak of happiness and wine and seek not the riddle of the universe, For no one has, nor will unveil this mystery through wisdom (H . a¯fiz.)

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The statue of Omar Khayyam beside the entrance to his tomb.

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Introduction

This is a comprehensive introductory work on the life, works, philosophy, science and poetry of Omar Khayyam for the Western reader. In it I propose to reintroduce a remarkable man whose Western exotic image is not an accurate depiction of this mysterious and misunderstood philosopher, poet and scientist of the fifth/eleventh century.1 This is my attempt to reconstruct, for the first time in the English language, the personality and thought of a figure who is unparalleled in the annals of Islamic intellectual thought, a stranger both in his homeland and in the West, a figure misunderstood by many people, loved by the free spirited and hated by many among the orthodox. There are very few non-Western figures who rivaled the fame of Omar Khayyam in the West. Just a century ago not only was his poetry taught in schools and colleges but he was regarded to be the representative of the “East” in all its exoticness. Omar Khayyam’s significance in the West is twofold; first, his Ruba‘iyyat (quatrains);

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second, his scientific works, especially those in the field of mathematics; the latter however has always been overshadowed by his poetry. His Ruba‘iyyat became a household name from the ’s to the ’s and were discussed by the likes of Mark Twain, Ezra Pound and the public at large. There are a number of reasons for his fame and cult-like status in England and especially in America, some of which I have discussed in Chapter Eight of this work. On the one hand, the First World War in Europe and the Civil War in America had left deep scars on the soul of Western societies; it is not surprising therefore to see that Khayyam’s message concerning suffering and evil resonated deeply with the Western audience. On the other hand, materialism, secularism and spiritual humanism, as is evident in the case of the “New England School of Transcendentalism,” was on the rise. The puritanical spirit of the founding fathers was slipping away into what the Christian fundamentalists saw as the rise of a new paganism. Omar Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat became a powerful symbol for the debate between puritanical Christianity and secularism in the West. For the defenders of the Christian West Khayyam became the symbol of the “Other,” the pagan heretic poet who was bent on weakening the moral fabric of the society by prescribing hedonism. The moral czars argued that the West in general and America in particular was falling into the abyss of materialism and its inevitable consequence, hedonism, because of its openness to foreign ideas. Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat in a sense was a perfect target; in no uncertain terms he advocated drinking wine and making love amidst the uncertainty of life after death. He became the antichrist to the orthodox Christianity, the protagonist in the drama of the Christian West against the secular West. Omar Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat also resonated deeply with the secularists in the West. Khayyam challenged religious doctrines, alluded to the hypocrisy of the clergy, cast doubt on almost every facet of religious rituals and advocated a type of humanism. The new West embraced Khayyam irrespective of whether these Ruba‘iyyat were his own but because the East contained a wisdom that the West supposedly lacked. The exotic East embodied in the very being of

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Omar Khayyam, as represented in his Ruba‘iyyat, advocated freethinking, rebellion against religious thought and establishment, spiritualism and living in the here and now. Khayyam’s timely message, praised highly by the secularists and condemned by the defenders of God, was captured so eloquently in his Ruba‘iyyat thanks to the poetic genius of Omar Khayyam and his illustrious translator Edward FitzGerald. Khayyam is also significant for his scientific views. He was also a mathematical genius whose commentaries on geometry and algebra stimulated much interest among Western mathematicians. His scientific treatises are very brief but nevertheless ground-breaking; his works have been translated in numerous languages and taken seriously by Russian, European and lately American mathematicians. Khayyam was both an original thinker in the scientific domain and an important transmitter and interpreter of Greek mathematical writings to the Islamic world. In the case of Euclidian geometry for instance, he offered major improvements on the Euclidian postulates. Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat in the Western world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a modern revival of Epicurianism. It must have been intriguing to the Victorian audience who saw humanism as the fruit of the Renaissance, to discover that the wise master from the East also advocated the same. The myth was once again reinforced that the wise sages of the East must have known all along what we in the West have just discovered! Omar Khayyam provided a mirror through which the West saw itself; those who liked what they saw praised him and those who did not blamed him for the moral degeneration of Western societies. There are primarily two reasons for the composition of this work. First, there is a misunderstanding of the nature of Omar Khayyam’s thought, perhaps due to the lack of a single volume in the English language2 devoted to a comprehensive discussion of the thought of this multidimensional personality. Somehow Omar Khayyam has emerged as the prophet of the hedonists, agnostics and atheists; and has been hailed by others as a freethinker, the “Eastern Voltaire”3 of the Islamic world whose cynical views on religion made him the hero of thirteenth ah/nineteenth-century Europe. The stereotypical

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picture of this great philosopher-scientist after whose name so many nightclubs have been named in the West is, however, a pure distortion. The image has been solidified by the Victorian sense of the exotic, romantic and often erotic notions that are attached to the East, notions that Khayyam’s poetry concerning wine and women tends to strengthen. The introduction of a serious thinker such as Omar Khayyam to the Western reader, and the restitution of his tarnished image, therefore, remains my primary objective. The second reason for the composition of this book is a personal one. Khayyam has been a source of inspiration throughout my life; his simple and yet profound message concerning temporality puts the universally shared trials and tribulations of daily life and our inner torments in their proper context. Perhaps it is for the above reason that from among the major figures of the colorful spectrum of intellectual thought in Iran, Omar Khayyam resonates with me in a unique way. It would not be inaccurate to say that somehow, I have found myself to have been “Khayyamian” ever since childhood and have come to experience a sense of belonging to all that constitutes what I call the “Khayyamian school of thought.” Some nostalgic reflections from the past may explain my special love for and admiration of Omar Khayyam. I was born in Mashhad, Iran, a city about two hours from Naysha¯bu¯r where the old master lived and died. One of my most vivid memories of childhood is my family’s repeated visits to his tomb. In the springtime, around the Persian New Year, Noru¯z, we would take a weekend trip to Naysha¯bu¯r, a city whose ethereal presence has left an indelible mark upon my soul. Above all, we would visit Omar Khayyam’s tomb, around which we always found people reciting poetry. Certainly, there were other sites to visit,4 but none stimulated the kind of feeling Khayyam’s presence brought about in me. Who was this man whose simple poems had affected the impressionable mind of a young boy and whose poetry has been an enduring source of inspiration for so many centuries? This is a question I have revisited throughout the last four decades of my own tumultuous life; and each time – like the scent of a rose, the intoxication of an aged wine and the sound of a nightingale – his poems send a refreshingly

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powerful message: to live is to live in an eternal presence. The pain and sorrow of the past and worries for the future, however, prevent us from experiencing the here and now; hence Khayyam’s repeated reminder of the temporality of life. Seeing life as a river that is in a constant state of flux, Khayyams tells us, is a remedy to being continuously pounded by the merciless forces of life. Khayyam’s mystique which mesmerized me as a young boy and led me to memorize much of his Ruba‘iyyat (quatrains), gave way to a deeper understanding of him when later on, as I entered the maze of adult life, I kept hearing him whispering in my ears,“This too shall pass.” And so, forty years after my first visit to Khayyam’s tomb, I decided to embark upon an endeavor to reintroduce Omar Khayyam to the Western reader and to undertake the daunting task of analyzing and interpreting the intellectual aspects of his life, thought, poetry, science and philosophy. A survey of the literature in the field of Khayyamian studies reveals several distinct, if not contradictory, interpretations, each of which captures the spirit of one aspect of this multidimensional figure. Was Khayyam the agnostic-hedonist of the Victorian era as presented by his illustrious translator Edward FitzGerald, or was he the devout Muslim he was reported to be by some of his biographers, including his son-in-law, Ima¯m rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Baghda¯dı¯? Or perhaps, as suggested by others, there were several Khayyams, and Khayyam the mathematician and astronomer is misidentified with a poet and a Sufi master of the same name. While these interpretations will be elaborated upon at some length in the forthcoming chapters, a brief review of them here will assist us in putting such discussions into a proper context.

khayyam the agnostic-hedonist This view has had many proponents both in the West and the East. We owe much of this interpretation to Edward FitzGerald, whose free but eloquent translations of Khayyam matched the romantic spirit of the Victorian era as well as views in certain circles in the Eastern part of the world. There is certainly a long tradition of

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seeing Khayyam as an agnostic whose cynical views of life lead to a form of hedonism. Needless to say, many of Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat, if taken literally, lend credence to this perspective. This interpretation of Khayyam is simply fallacious if one studies thoroughly not only his Ruba‘iyyat but also his philosophical works which have been usually completely neglected by Western scholarship on Khayyam. Contrary to the Ruba‘iyyat (the authorship of some of whose poems is somewhat dubious), his philosophical and scientific writings are decisively his own, each beginning with praise to God and the Prophet rushbrookrathbone.co.uk and ending with salutations and prayers. Furthermore, the very fabric of his philosophical thought, which generally has received little attention both in the East and the West, clearly indicates that Khayyam was operating well within a monotheistic philosophical paradigm very much like his predecessor Avicenna whom he calls “his teacher.” Above all, there is the last day of his life, his death scene, which has been portrayed in some detail. The report has it that Khayyam performed his Islamic prayers throughout the day before he died.

the two-khayyam theory A decade ago, an eminent Iranian scholar, rushbrookrathbone.co.uk rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’ı¯ 5, in a work entitled Khayyam ya¯ Khayya¯mı¯, argued that there have been a number of Khayyams and that Khayyam the astronomer has been mistaken for Khayyam the poet. T . aba¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’ı¯ argues that the discrepancy between the theistic nature of Khayyam’s thought as reflected in his philosophical treatises and the agnostic-hedonist tendencies presented in his Ruba‘iyyat clearly indicates that these works belong to different people. T . aba¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’ı¯ offers extensive evidence in this regard both textually and circumstantially. This view has gained some strength in recent years,6 as we have come to learn more about the other Khayyams. For instance, there was Abu¯ S.a¯lih Khalifah Khayyam who hailed from Bukha¯ra¯ which, at the time, was part of Khu¯ra¯sa¯n; and the second one was rushbrookrathbone.co.uk ibn ‘Alı¯ al-Khayya¯mı¯ al-Ira¯qı¯ from Ma¯zandara¯n near the Caspian Sea. Is it not possible that their

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poems were misidentified with the works of Omar Khayyam? In ah/ ce, Ya¯r rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Rashı¯dı¯ Tabrizı¯ edited over six hundred quatrains, which may have been from all these Khayyams, and titled it the Tarabkha¯nah, only adding confusion to the whole field of Khayyamian studies. There is another argument that favors this position. In the annals of the Islamic literary genre, there is no one else who so openly criticized all aspects of religion and yet lived to be as old as Khayyam! This makes Khayyam almost a unique figure, too good to be true. It is not the case that he lived in a more liberal era of Islamic history, nor did he live in a remote part of the Islamic world. If anything, he lived under the watchful eyes of ultra-orthodox jurists, such as Abu¯ H . a¯mid Ghazza¯lı¯ who in the early years of his life had no appreciation for Sufism. The question therefore is, “If Khayyam did write the Ruba‘iyyat, how did he get away with it?” Perhaps with the exception of Abu’l- ‘Ala¯’ al-Ma‘arrı¯, I know of no other poet who survived while preaching skepticism, agnosticism and atheism and yet died of natural causes. The miraculous survival and thriving of Omar Khayyam does strengthen the theory that perhaps there were several other Khayyams, though one of whom at least was a poet. This argument, as I shall demonstrate, is also fallacious, not because it is propagated by only a very small minority of scholars, but because of the overwhelming number of biographers who have identified Khayyam the astronomer-mathematician as the one who was the author of at least some of the Ruba‘iyyat. There is an Arabic proverb which says, “Arabs do not forgive their wives or their horses, but they forgive the poets” which might well have been true in this case. Poetic license may well have saved him from the wrath of the orthodox elements.

khayyam the sufi There are those who have tried to resolve the apparent agnosticism of Khayyam as it appears in his Ruba‘iyyat by interpreting the poetry within a Sufi context. Accordingly, Khayyam was a mystic

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who relied heavily on allegory, metaphor and symbolism; and like so many other great Sufi masters, if the esoteric symbolism of his Ruba‘iyyat is understood properly, a different Khayyam emerges whose mastery of gnosis and esotericism will only dazzle the intellect of those who are familiar with the spiritual tradition of Sufism. There is some truth to this theory since Khayyam himself unequivocally states in his work, On the Knowledge Of the Principals of Existence, The Sufis are those who do not seek knowledge intellectually or discursively but by the cleansing of their inner self and purgation of their morals have cleansed their rational soul from the impurities of nature and the corporeal body. When that substance [the soul] is purified and becomes a reflection of the spiritual world, the forms in that status are truly unveiled without any doubt or ambiguity. This path is the best of them all.7

Despite Khayyam’s clear endorsement of the Sufi path, seeing him only as a Sufi does a great disservice to the field of Khayyamian studies and is an impediment to allowing a more inclusive picture of this giant figure to emerge. Based on the existing evidence, Khayyam did not have a spiritual master or belong to a Sufi order, nor have any of his biographers ever reported his Sufi affiliation. It is reasonable to conclude therefore that even if he had Sufi tendencies, he was not a practicing Sufi. Finally, his statement in which he considers himself to be a student of Avicenna, and his philosophical treatises written in the Peripatetic style, do not allow us to place him squarely within the Sufi camp. Clearly, he was familiar with Sufism and had esoteric tendencies, but one has to read into his Ruba‘iyyat extensively , as some of the medieval and modern scholars have, in order to see him only as a Sufi. In either case, it is safe to assume that Khayyam was not a Sufi as H . alla¯j, Ru¯mı¯, or even rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Ghazza¯lı¯ were. There might be a cultural and even political reason for wanting to see the Ruba‘iyyat in their esoteric aspects only. But the fact remains that, despite the wide spectrum of Persian and Islamic intellectual thought – even in their most tolerant forms – there is no room for doubt in the modern sense as such, much less a place for an agnostic

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or perhaps even an atheist perspective. The message of hedonism is equally unacceptable, for it goes against the very grain of the Islamic theocentric worldview. Therefore, it has always been a challenge where to place Khayyam in the annals of the Islamic intellectual and literary tradition in such a way that one of the cultural heroes of Iran can be rescued from the charges of heresy. It is in this context that it becomes hard to resist the project of the “Suficization” of Khayyam, a perspective which allows one to interpret his Ruba‘iyyat in order to reveal his “true message,” which happens to be in complete conformity with the esoteric teachings of Islam.

khayyam the devout muslim The other interpretation which has also tried to rescue Khayyam and repair his image and reputation from heresy, is the more orthodox view which attempts to completely exonerate him from even writing the Ruba‘iyyat. There are those who have made an attempt to distinguish the pious Omar Khayyam from other heretical poets by the same name and, therefore, distanced our faithful mathematicianastronomer from those who attributed the so-called Ruba‘iyyat to him. Somehow, the advocates of this project see this endeavor as another way to save one of the cultural heroes of Persians and to preserve the purity of Khayyam’s faith, but in reality, they only perpetuate further misunderstanding of a major thinker whose complex views transcend faith and reason, a figure who cannot be placed in a simple model of an “either /or” dichotomy. This view, on which I will elaborate, is simply fallacious and based on a one-dimensional approach to the ideas of a figure who was a one-man university.

khayyam the persian nationalist A discussion concerning Khayyam would not be complete without reference to his alleged membership in the Persian nationalist movement known as Shu‘ubiyyah. Khayyam is said to have been a member of the disenchanted Persian intelligentsia who were deeply

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troubled by the fact that non-Persian rulers governed Persia for much of its history since the invasion of the Arabs in the first/seventh century, foreigners who were not sophisticated enough to appreciate the Persian cultural heritage. This situation continued until Khayyam’s own time when the Turkish Seljuq dynasty took over the reign of power in Persia. Khayyam, along with many other significant Persian intellectuals such as the poet Ferdawsı¯, is said to have participated in the revival of the authentic Persian intellectual tradition. This interpretation sees the Ruba‘iyyat as a demythologization of the central tenets of the Islamic faith and the central themes upon which the Semitic religions are based. Khayyam not only questions central tenets of Islam such as angels, breaking the religious law, life after death and the purpose of creation, but he does so in a cynical way8 which is indicative of his nationalistic agenda. This modern interpretation is as cynical as some of Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat and is yet another symptom of reading Khayyam selectively. There is no question that Khayyam was a proud Persian, well aware of the major intellectual and cultural contributions of his civilization, as well as a practicing Muslim; but attributing nationalism in the modern sense of the word to a medieval figure misses the point completely. Omar Khayyam was too profound a thinker and too engaged with the existential riddles of life to entertain nationalism, an implied form of racism. He was the embodiment of a PersianMuslim, proud and aware of his ancient heritage as is evident in his attempt to keep the Pahlavı¯ names of the months in his new calendar. He was also a believer as is clearly evident in his philosophical writings and yet he maintained a sense of rebellion against orthodoxy, a salient feature of much of Persian intellectual and mystical literature.

khayyam the wise sage It is my argument throughout this work that the legendary Khayyam was a philosopher-sage (rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯m), a spiritual-pragmatist of the highest stature who, like some of his predecessors such as Fa¯ra¯bı¯ and Avicenna, provided us with the leaven of his wisdom. His mature pen, powerful intellect and relentless quest for answers to philosophical

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and existential questions produced a person whose nectar of wisdom exudes from every fiber of his being both poetically and philosophically. Khayyam was not a practicing Sufi, though he was not opposed to it; he was not an orthodox Muslim, though he practiced Islam and upheld the religious law (shari‘ah) in his personal life; nor was he only a scientist like Biru¯nı¯ and Khwa¯razmı¯ since he remained attentive to so many other domains of knowledge. Omar Khayyam was an exemplar of the best gift man possesses – nous (intellect) – that he applied so skillfully throughout his scientific works. At the same time, he demonstrated the application of sophia (wisdom) not just in its narrow rational sense but as it pertains to life itself and the existential dilemmas that humans face. Khayyam was a philosopher and his Ruba‘iyyat were a philosophical commentary upon life and the human condition. He was a man who did not see questioning and quandary as the opposite of faith, but rather as part of the process of being human, an endless process of intellection between the two existential poles of man’s life, reason and faith. Despite all the available textual and biographical sources, a decisive and definite response to the question of and the search for the “real historical Khayyam” is neither possible nor prudent for our purposes. To begin with, we are operating on the basis of an insufficient amount of evidence with regard to much of what is said about Khayyam, not to mention contradictory accounts about him. I am of the opinion that on the basis of the existing evidence, much of which is based on a number of inauthentic poems attributed to Khayyam, one cannot establish with certainty the exact character and thought of the “historical Khayyam.” What can be said, however, is that an “either/or” model as a way of approaching Khayyam – whether as an agnostic-hedonist, a devout Muslim or a grand Sufi master – is a fallacious perspective9 which can be refuted. Khayyamian studies have become a victim of Victorian romanticism on the one hand and the Persian religious and cultural lenses in which one is either a faithful Muslim or an infidel on the other. The genius of Khayyam’s unique intellect and multidimensional

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personality is simply too complex to fit into an “either /or” model or any other pre-fabricated intellectual structure. It is precisely this multifaceted nature of Khayyam that has allowed so many people to claim him as their own hero; but the reality – even if it means taking the cultural hero of Persians away from them – is that he may have been all that is said about him. Perhaps, at times, he was an agnostic and at other times a man of faith, and yet there were moments when he transcended both faith and reason. Khayyam is certainly not the first case of a perplexed thinker who was tormented as he wrestled with the enduring questions of an ultimate existential nature. Naturally, his poetic form of expression has been seen by some as a theology of protest, a loud bemoaning of his bewilderment, and for others as the outer shell of a deeper hidden meaning. An American follower of Khayyam, J. Brigham, reminds us, “To one, he is little more than a tavern drunk; to another, he is a poet whose soul is imbued with Epicurean philosophy; to another still, he is a pagan agnostic peering through the mist in a vain search for God; to still another, he is like the distracted one who in anguish cried out, ‘Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief!’ ”10 Finally, there is the thorny question regarding the authenticity of Khayyam’s poetry, a subject of considerable debate among the scholars of Khayyam and Persian literature in general. As I will discuss in Chapter Four, despite all the various methods and techniques developed by scholars, it is virtually impossible to distinguish the authentic poems from the inauthentic ones. Whereas ideally it would have been prudent to have access to his “real” Ruba‘iyyat, I am of the opinion that by focusing on the question of authenticity, we miss the Khayyamian message which lies at the heart of the Ruba‘iyyat. The late Henry Corbin, one of the most eminent Western scholars of Islam, in a conversation with the late great Shi‘ite scholar, ‘Alla¯mah T . aba¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’ı¯, posed a question concerning the authenticity of the authorship of Ima¯m ‘Alı¯’s work, The Path of Eloquence. ‘Alla¯mah responded by saying “he who has written The Path of Eloquence ‘is’ for us ‘Alı¯.”11 I like to adopt this rather phenomenological approach and suggest that he who has composed the Ruba‘iyyat is for us Khayyam.

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The fact remains that we have a large number of quatrains that are attributed to a man called Omar Khayyam. We can indulge ourselves in endless discussions about the authenticity of these poems or we can stand back and look at what is before us. Those who are obsessed with the historical-textual methodology and see some value in finding the “real Khayyam” will undoubtedly be frustrated with the present work since it begins with the following questions: if there were to be an Omar Khayyam who was simultaneously the author of the scientific treatises and much of the Ruba‘iyyat, what type of a person would he have been? Is a reconstruction of this half-mythical half-real person possible based on all the available evidence? Is an attempt to read between the lines in order to infer some of the original fragrance of Khayyamian thought possible, given the fact that many of the Ruba‘iyyat are not his? Finally, can we postulate that even though much of the Ruba‘iyyat we use in this work are not Khayyam’s, do they not reveal something about the spirit of the “real Khayyam”? While I think it is possible and prudent to do this, one may not lay an absolute claim to such findings. A.E. Christensen, the eminent Danish scholar of Khayyam, in a treatise he gave to V. Rozen, a distinuished Khayyam scholar, mentions that within years after Khayyam’s death, the authentic and inauthentic Ruba‘iyyat were inseparable. So intertwined had they become that distinguishing them remains impossible The search for the historical Khayyam in light of the existing evidence therefore is a futile attempt that should be abandoned in favor of a more befitting and useful model which, if adopted adequately, addresses the question – not who Khayyam was, but what is the message of the existing Ruba‘iyyat? The above scheme suspends the search for the messenger in order to open the door for the message and is as a model which is fitting for our mysterious poet. This model, often referred to as a phenomenological approach, abandons the search for the “real historical Khayyam” and puts the emphasis on the immediate encounter between what is available, which are the Ruba‘iyyat and their readers throughout the ages. It is true that there are some poems that are truly Khayyam’s, while there are others, the numbers of which add up to several hundred, which

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are clearly inauthentic. Despite this, even some of the Ruba‘iyyat that are widely regarded to be inauthentic, bear a resemblance to the so-called authentic ones both in form and content. Even though most of these poems are clearly later developments and are attributed to him, the “family resemblance” among them allows us to conclude the following: 1. Khayyam represents a school of thought, a weltanschauung, a voice of protest against what he regarded to be a fundamentally unjust world. Many people found in him a voice they needed to hear and, centuries after he had died, he became a vehicle for those who were experiencing the same trials and tribulations as Khayyam combined with a fear of persecution. 2. More than a person, Khayyam is the representative of a particular world-view which traditionally has not had a prominent place in the Islamic religious universe. Theodicy was put to rest in the early period of the Islamic theological debate and even to raise the question of why evil exists is often seen as a sign of weakness in faith. Khayyam had no problem raising and pondering the issue13 using his poetic license. Therefore I suggest that we focus on the “Khayyamian school of thought” rather than Khayyam the person, thereby making the question of who was the real Khayyam as well as the authenticity of his poems somewhat irrelevant to the message of this school of thought attributed to Khayyam. Furthermore, the question of whether there were several Khayyams or not becomes equally irrelevant to our message-based inquiry. Even if we have misidentified Omar Khayyam with a poet by the name of ‘Alı¯ Khayya¯mı¯, as some have suggested, we are still left with a particular world-view that is reflected in the Ruba‘iyyat which we can identify with the Khayyamian school of thought. Finally, relying on a combination of historical textual methods of criticism where possible, and a phenomenological one where necessary, a more balanced view of the Khayyamian message can be presented without involving the reader in the long and arduous scholarly debate concerning such open questions as those regarding the authenticity of Khayyam and his own identity. For the same reason,

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The tomb of Omar Khayyam in Naysha¯bu¯r.

I have avoided introducing a discussion concerning different editions of the Ruba‘iyyat scattered throughout the libraries of Iran and Western countries. My emphasis has been to produce a work that introduces for the first time a comprehensive picture of a historical figure who has come to be known as Omar Khayyam.

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Having said the above, since our project here is to reconstruct the life and thought of Omar Khayyam as much as possible, I have relied on a two-fold methodology to elaborate upon the mission impossible. First, I have accepted the Ruba‘iyyat which the eminent and life-long scholar of Khayyam, rushbrookrathbone.co.uk ‘Alı¯ Furu¯ghı¯ has accepted to be authentic. Having compared and contrasted various editions and versions of the Ruba‘iyyat and their place in the early and later sources, Furu¯ghı¯ considers a number of them to be “acceptable” realizing that ultimately, in the absence of concrete evidence, one can not be certain regarding the authenticity of any of the Ruba‘iyyat. It is imperative to realize that in analyzing and interpreting Khayyam’s thought in this work, I have first and foremost made use of Furu¯ghı¯’s accepted Ruba‘iyyat. Second, where and when I have used other Ruba‘iyyat to shed light on Khayyam’s thought, I have made sure their content is consistent with and supportive of Furu¯ghı¯’s version. I have avoided using those versions of the Ruba‘iyyat whose theme and message radically clashes with the content of Furu¯ghı¯’s Ruba‘iyyat, as well as other acceptable quatrains by such scholars as Dashtı¯, Malik and Foula¯dvand. Despite taking such care in using the Ruba‘iyyat, the reader is encouraged to focus on the Khayyamian school of thought as representative of a world-view rather than an individual. The fact that there are hundreds of quatrains which have been attributed to Khayyam throughout the centuries, in my view, is not a liability but an asset. Khayyam had become the voice of many voiceless poets who, fearing persecution, used him as a shield, a veil; those poets who shared Khayyam’s views found him to be a suitable vehicle in whom they could take refuge. Our Khayyam therefore, should not be viewed only as a historical figure but also as a school of thought which, as it will be demonstrated, proclaims the irreconcilability of faith and reason, respecting and questioning both simultaneously. This unique figure makes a sincere attempt not to reconcile faith and reason but to acknowledge these two irreconcilable poles of human existence, the eternal struggle between the heart and the mind. The question for him was not how these two discourses can be reconciled but how one can live amidst such a

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introduction

tension, while not giving in to easy pre-fabricated answers or falling into nihilism and heresy. For the purposes of this study, I have avoided extensive textual analysis and comparison of different editions of the Ruba‘iyyat. Lengthy discussions concerning the question of the authenticity of the quatrains and the type of discussions that are more prevalent in literary circles have been kept to a minimum. Even though this book is written for a wide readership, some chapters might be of interest to the specialist only. I highly recommend that readers begin the text by reading the quatrains (Ruba‘iyyat) first; these poems included in Appendix B constitute the heart and soul of the Khayyamian message. Chapter Six and the six translations of Khayyam’s philosophical treatises included in Appendix A contain highly technical language and require some familiarity with Aristotelian philosophy. All the translations are mine unless otherwise stated and, in some cases where I have adopted other translations, they have been modified for accuracy and duly noted. Diacritic marks have not been placed on certain words such as “Omar Khayyam” which are repeated throughout the work and others, such as “Sufi,” which have entered into the English language. Mehdi Aminrazavi Noru¯z / March

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1

u Khayyam’s Life and Works

Of knowledge naught remained I did not know, Of secrets, scarcely any, high or low; All day and night for three score and twelve years, I pondered, just to learn that naught I know.1

omar khayyam’s life Birth and family

His full name was Abu’l Fath. Omar ibn Ibra¯hı¯m Khayyam, born in the district of Sha¯dyakh of the old city of Naysha¯bu¯r in the province of Khu¯ra¯sa¯n in the Eastern part of Iran sometime around ah/ ce,2 and he died there between and / and The precise date of his death is a mystery, especially in light of the fact that upon his death, Khayyam was a famous man. There are reasons to believe that he died in or before /,3 but most contemporary scholars seem to think that / is a more likely date. Some have reported the place of his birth to have been Istera¯ba¯d and others, Lawkar; but Bayhaqı¯, his contemporary biographer who actually met him, states that his forefathers all came from Naysha¯bu¯r.4

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Student years and teachers

The title “Khayyam” – meaning “tent maker” – in all likelihood was inherited from his father, Ibra¯hı¯m, an illiterate tent maker who realized the keen intelligence of his young son Omar and the need for him to study under the great masters of his time. Rah.ı¯m R. Malik in his work5 mentions that Khayyam’s father may have been a convert, presumably from the Zoroastrian religion to Sunni Islam, and so Khayyam was a first generation Muslim. Malik also claims that because Khayyam was referred to by so many as “Abu’l-Fath.” (father of Fath.) he must have had a son by that name. Neither of these two claims have been substantiated by other biographers of Khayyam. Being uncertain if the masters would agree to tutor the son of a poor tent maker, Ibra¯hı¯m asked the Ima¯m of the Mosque, Mawla¯na¯ Qa¯d.ı¯ rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, to accept his son as his student. He arranged a meeting in which the master asked the young Omar a few questions concerning religious sciences, and it did not take much for Qa¯d.ı¯ rushbrookrathbone.co.uk to realize how gifted this child was since Omar had memorized much of the Qur’an already. Legend has it that Omar asked the master why every chapter in the Qur’an begins with the verse, “In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most compassionate” to which Qa¯d.ı¯ replied that the Qur’an is the word of God and every chapter must begin accordingly. Young Omar then asked, “Why does Allah need to begin every chapter by calling upon his own name and whether this implies a duality?” The story may well be part of the cult of personality which has developed around this legendary figure. Omar Khayyam studied Qur’anic sciences, Arabic grammar, literature and other introductory religious sciences, and he quickly learned what Qa¯d.ı¯ rushbrookrathbone.co.uk could teach him. The teacher then asked Omar to continue his studies with a different master,6 Kha¯wjah Abu’l-H . asan al-Anba¯rı¯. Under the direction of his new teacher, Omar studied various branches of mathematics, astronomy and traditional cosmological doctrines, in particular, the major work of Ptolemy, Almageste (Majist.a¯). As is indicated in the Tatimmah .siwa¯n rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, “Abu’l-H . asan al-Anba¯rı¯ al-H . akı¯m: Despite his knowledge of discursive sciences, he was learned in

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geometry and the philosopher (rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯m) Omar ibn Khayyam was benefiting from him and learned Almageste from him.”7 Khayyam, who was quiet and reserved with a humble character and an eagerness with which he pursued his advanced studies, was quickly recognized as the most gifted student of Kha¯wjah. Soon Omar was ready to study with the well-known master, Ima¯m Muwaffaq Naysha¯bu¯rı¯, who taught only the best of the best. He was somewhat of a court philosopher who tutored the children of the nobility. Once again, in a meeting between them, Omar had convinced the new master of his worthiness to study with him. With Ima¯m Muwaffaq, Khayyam studied advanced Qur’anic studies and jurisprudence but did not show great interest for the latter area of study. Finally, Omar studied philosophy, with Shaykh rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Mans.u¯r, under whose direction he became familiar with the writings of Avicenna, particularly the Isha¯ra¯t, a work which he studied until the last day of his life. Khayyam himself refers to Avicenna as his master and some have interpreted this to mean he studied with Avicenna, which is almost an impossibility. Khayyam wrote one of his philosophical treatises, Being and Necessity, when he was in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n in response to a series of questions that ‘Abu¯ Nas.r ibn ‘Abd al-Rah.ı¯m Nasawı¯, one of the students of Avicenna, had posed to him. In this treatise, he states: Know that this problem is one of the (philosophical) complexities which most people are bewildered by Perhaps I and my teacher, the noblest of the later (rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯ms), Shaykh al-Ra’is, Abu¯ ‘Alı¯ H . usayı¯n ibn ‘Abdalla¯h Bukha¯rı¯ [Ibn Sı¯na¯], have reflected upon this particular problem.8

It is not clear when and where Khayyam could have been Avicenna’s student because Khayyam would have to have been born much earlier if he were to have met Avicenna. It is entirely possible that he studied with Bahmanya¯r, the famous pupil of Avicenna. Except for a brief reference by Niz.a¯mı¯ ‘Arud.ı¯ Samarqandı¯, who tells us that Avicenna went to Naysha¯bu¯r, there is no evidence of this.9 In either case, Khayyam’s respect and reverence for Avicenna remained categorical until the last day of his life when he was allegedly reading

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the Isha¯ra¯t just hours before he died. This is also indicated in his spirited conversation with ‘Ala¯’ al-Dawlah, the governor of Ray,10 who was a follower of Abu’l Baraka¯t al-Baghda¯dı¯. ‘Ala¯’ al-Dawlah asked Khayyam what he thought about Abu’l Baraka¯t’s criticisms of Avicenna, to which he replied, “Abu’l Baraka¯t did not even understand Avicenna, much less to criticize him.” The conversation which followed and Khayyam’s passionate defense of Avicenna clearly indicate that he was an avid supporter of Avicennian philosophy It is entirely possible that he studied with Bahmanya¯r, or at least met him in Isfaha¯n during his stay in that city. There are several references to this possibility. rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯ in al-wafı¯ bi’l-wafiya¯t12 and Qot.b al-Dı¯n rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯d Shira¯zı¯ in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk al-sha¯hiyyah,13 mention that Khayyam and Lawkarı¯, a colleague and classmate of Khayyam, were students of Bahmanya¯r. The other major figure with whom Omar may have studied was the famous theologian and teacher of Abu¯ H . a¯mid Ghazza¯lı¯, Ima¯m al-H aramayı ¯ n Juwaynı ¯ who taught in Naysha ¯ bu¯r. If this were true, . Khayyam would have been a fellow classmate of Ghazza¯lı¯, a point none of his biographers have mentioned. However, given Juwaynı¯’s fame, it is hard to imagine that Khayyam would not have benefited from him and his scholarly circle in Naysha¯bu¯r. Khayyam the teacher and his students

Khayyam soon established himself as a one-man university whose fame went far and wide. He has been referred to with honorary titles such as “H . ujjat al-H . aqq” (The Evidence of Truth), “Ghiya¯th al-Dı¯n” (The Patron of Faith) and “Ima¯m,” all of them indicative of the respect he had in the community and the recognition of him as a religious authority. He wrote very little, but what he wrote was of great significance. He accepted few students, but was scrupulous in his teaching. It is said that once Ghazza¯lı¯ asked Khayyam a question concerning geometry in the morning, and Khayyam elaborated on the question until Ghazza¯lı¯ reminded him that it was time for the noon prayer. Khayyam did not participate much in the scholarly debates and

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circles of Naysha¯bu¯r, which by this time had become one of the greatest centers of learning in the Islamic world. He is said to have been shy and sensitive, with a bad temper, an impatient man with little interest in sharing his knowledge with others. Some have attributed this lack of interest in teaching to a desire not to be intellectually conspicuous. There are two accounts concerning his remarkable memory, from two trips, one to Balkh and the other to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n. In both instances, he came upon a book in which he was keenly interested, and the owners only allowed him to read it, but not to make a copy of it. In each case, Khayyam read the book carefully, and upon his return to Naysha¯bu¯r, dictated it to a student. Later his dictated version was compared with the original, revealing almost a perfect match. In another story, Khayyam traveled to Balkh in search of books; in particular, he wanted to find a copy of Apollonius of Perge’s The Book of Conics. On the way, he arrived at a village that had been swarmed by birds who ate the crops and left their waste everywhere. Khayyam was asked to assist the villagers whom he asked to make two large, clay hawks which they placed in strategic locations with a number of dead birds surrounding them. The birds migrated from the village at once. Whereas the authenticity of these stories can always be questioned, they do bear testament to the power of his intellect as perceived by his students and the people. These are stories which no doubt have contributed to the creation of a legendary figure. The unverifiable nature of these stories also makes scholarship about him rather difficult since one can neither simply dismiss all of them as false nor can one verify their sources. Despite his withdrawn and somewhat monastic existence, Khayyam associated with a number of well-known scholars and had a few exceptional students, among whom were rushbrookrathbone.co.uk al-Ma‘murı¯ al-Bayhaqı¯, rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Ila¯qı¯, Ima¯m rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Baghda¯dı¯, (who also became his son-in-law), Niz.a¯mı¯ ‘Arud.ı¯ Samarqandı¯ (who benefited from Khayyam’s presence though he was not trained by him), Abu’l-Ma‘a¯lı¯ ‘Abdalla¯h ibn rushbrookrathbone.co.uk al-Miya¯njı¯ (also known as ‘Ayn al-Qod.a¯t Hamada¯nı¯),14 and rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Hija¯zı¯ Qa¯’nı¯. Also, one can mention ‘Abd al-Rafi‘ Hirawı¯ who may have been the

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author of Noru¯z na¯mah, a treatise usually attributed to Khayyam himself. From the figures mentioned above who may have studied with Khayyam, ‘Ayn al-Qod.a¯t Hamada¯nı¯ is the least likely of them There are no references made to either figure in their works. Hamid Dabashi in his major work on ‘Ayn al-Qod.a¯t Hamada¯nı¯ interprets their association as “the metanarrative of Persian Sufism,”16 arguing their association is somewhat wishful thinking that “fits” well among those who like to see Khayyam as a Sufi. The encounter of Khayyam with other masters

While scholars in Naysha¯bu¯r were abundant,17 Khayyam associated with only a few of them, the most famous of whom were the poet Sana¯’ı¯, the great theologian Zamakhsharı¯, Maymu¯n ibn Najı¯b and Ima¯m rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Isfiza¯rı¯ with whom he collaborated to make a new calendar, and finally the most famous of them all, Abu¯ H . a¯mid Ghazza¯lı¯ with whom he had a difficult relationship. As I will investigate in the forthcoming chapters, Ghazza¯lı¯’s relationship with Khayyam reveals much about the intellectual milieu of the time and the rise of dogmatic theology against which perhaps Khayyam was reacting. It is said that Ghazza¯lı¯ studied with Khayyam for a number of years, but due to the orthodox and austere reputation of Ghazza¯lı¯ and the controversial views of Khayyam, Ghazza¯lı¯ went to Khayyam’s home early in the morning before anyone would see him. Khayyam, intending to reveal Ghazza¯lı¯’s hypocrisy, asked a man with a drum to stand on the rooftop and to beat on it when Khayyam gave the sign. One day upon Ghazza¯lı¯’s departure, Khayyam signaled the man to beat on his drum whereby people gathered to see that Ghazza¯lı¯, who apparently questioned Khayyam’s faith privately, was nevertheless studying with him Perhaps Ghazza¯lı¯’s The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Taha¯fat al-fala¯sifah) was written at least partially in response to Khayyam’s philosophical perspective. The other master with whom Khayyam had an encounter was the famous literary figure Sana¯’ı¯. Shortly before Khayyam’s major trip to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n in /, Sana¯’ı¯ came to visit Khayyam in Naysha¯bu¯r.

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The discussion concerning literature, philosophy and subjects of mutual interest continued for a while and created a profound friendship between the two giants, one a literary genius and the other a philosopher-scientist. While in Naysha¯bu¯r, some money was stolen from a money exchanger, and the suspect claimed that Sana¯’ı¯’s servant had stolen the money. The servant, who was arrested and mistreated, had expected the master to intervene on his behalf; but Sana¯’ı¯ decided to leave Naysha¯bu¯r. Disappointed with his master’s lack of interest in saving him, the servant said that he had given the money to Sana¯’ı¯ who was on his way back to Herat. Upon receiving a letter from the money exchanger asking for the return of his money, Sana¯’ı¯ was greatly saddened. He wrote a letter to Khayyam which is regarded as one of the most sublime examples of Persian literature In it, he asked him to intervene on his behalf and to vouch for his innocence. Khayyam resolved the matter skillfully. A careful analysis of the content and the language of the letter is indicative of Khayyam’s stature and the respect he enjoyed in the community as well as the sphere of his influence. Clearly, he must have been a well-known figure in good standing with the authorities. If doubts concerning Khayyam’s faith were even partially an issue, Khayyam would not have enjoyed the kind of respect and power that Sana¯’ı¯ attributes to him in his letter. Finally, there is the other unlikely story concerning Khayyam mentioned in the Tarabkha¯neh, which addresses an encounter between him and the famous Isma¯‘ı¯lı¯ poet-philosopher, Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw. Allegedly, Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw sent a copy of his treatise, Rawshana¯’ı¯ na¯mah, to Khayyam who was pleased by it. Tabrizı¯ gives the following account of this story: Sayyid Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw, may paradise be his, composed the Rawshana¯’ı¯ na¯mah and sent it to rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯m [Khayyam] for review. He used his withdrawn nature as an excuse [not to comment upon it] and he [Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw] requested [Khayyam] for a long poem20 or at least a quatrain since the eloquence of quatrain is the completion of sublimity. He [Khayyam] composed a few Ruba‘iyyat and them sent to him and gave the excuse that since eternity it was my destiny to write these words, I had no choice in the matter

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When Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw returned from his numerous trips to Egypt, he spent a few years as an itinerant preacher in Khura¯sa¯n before he was off on his exile and it is almost certain that he spent some time in Naysha¯bu¯r. Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw considered himself qualified enough in mathematics to write a book about it and was already famous for his poetry. Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw tells us that he wrote the book “even though there is no one around who understands mathematics. I have written this for scholars of the future.” So whether Na¯rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Khusraw would have sent his philosophical work Rawshana¯’ı¯ na¯mah (also known as Shish fas.l) to the younger astronomer Omar Khayyam for review and comments, remains to be verified. This story, however, is not corroborated by other biographers of Khayyam22 and is highly dubious. The Three Musketeers and The Sweet Tale of a Friendship

Few stories have captured the imagination of Persians more than the friendship that allegedly existed between Omar Khayyam, H . asan T.u¯sı¯ (who was later given the title “Niz.a¯m al-Mulk,” the Order of Nation, and became the Chamberlain of the Seljuq court) and H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h. (the founder of the order of assassins). This story, too, is highly unlikely since, on careful examination of the dates and the personalities involved, such a friendship as stipulated in the story is unlikely This story of friendship may have been based on several similar stories. In Mu‘jam al-‘udaba¯’, Ya¯qut H . amawı¯ describes the famous poet, Ba¯khizrı¯, reporting that the vizir al-Kondorı¯ and Ba¯khizrı¯ were both students of Ima¯m al-Muwaffaq. In /, al-Kundurı¯ and Niz.a¯m al-Mulk were both vizirs of Sult.a¯n Alp Arsla¯n, and Khayyam and Ba¯khizrı¯ were both poets. Another similar story takes place during the reign of rushbrookrathbone.co.uk when several men came to be known as the “companions of the fig.” A.M. ‘Abdus al-Jahshiyarı¯ in Kita¯b al-wuzara¯’ tells us that ‘Abidalla¯h Nu‘ma¯n, ‘Abd al-Ma¯lik ibn H . amı¯d and two other men made a vow under a fig tree to assist one another in political and administrative matters if any of them achieved a high status in the government As it turned

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out, ‘Abd al-Ma¯lik became the secretary of the Sult.a¯n and kept his promise by appointing his friends to high offices. The earliest source where an account of Khayyam’s friendship with T.u¯sı¯ and rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h can be found is in Rashı¯d al-Dı¯n rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h’s Ja¯mi‘ al-tawa¯rikh. According to this account of the story, Khayyam, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk and H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h were all classmates in Naysha¯bu¯r studying with Ima¯m Muwaffaq. Khayyam was more reserved, an introvert whose life was completely dedicated to academic inquiries and the pursuit of knowledge. H . asan, a Shi‘ite, claimed to be an Arab from the tribe of rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h H . umayrı¯, but is believed to have been from the city of Ray near today’s Tehran. Unlike Khayyam, he was more interested in socio-political issues. There was also H . asan T.u¯sı¯, the son of a prominent government official who knew at an early age that he was destined to be a politician. The three boys made a vow that whoever came to a position of power and was aggrandized should help the other two; as it turned out, all three became prominent in their respective fields. Khayyam became a well-known scholar whose advice was sought by various sult.a¯ns. Niz.a¯m al-Mulk became the grand vizir of the King. H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h became a greatly feared revolutionary bent on overthrowing the King and ameliorating the conditions of life. As fate had it, H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h may have had something to do with the murdering of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, his alleged friend from his school years. In the Ja¯mi‘ al-tawa¯rikh, Rashı¯d al-Dı¯n rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h describes their friendship: Our master [H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h] and Omar Khayyam and Niz.a¯m al-Mulk were close companions. As it is the habit of the time of youth and tradition of children, they adhered to the principle of friendship, companionship until they became blood brothers and promised that whoever among us achieves a great status and exalted rank, should assist and strengthen others. As is written and stated in the history of the dynasty of the Seljuqs, it happened that Niz.a¯m al-Mulk became the grand vizir. Omar Khayyam came to him [Niz.a¯m al-Mulk] and reminded him of the promise of childhood and he recognized and honored the past and said, “The governorship of Naysha¯bu¯r and its vicinities is yours.” Omar Khayyam who was a great rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯m, learned and

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rational minded, said “I have no ambition for ruling and commanding the people to do what is right. By way of patronage, assign a stipend for me.” Niz.a¯m al-Mulk assigned ten-thousand Dina¯rs [for him] from the taxes of Naysha¯bu¯r to be given to him without any shortcoming or discriminatory consideration

Some of the Europeans such as Edward FitzGerald, who mentioned the story in the introduction to his translation of Khayyam’s Ruba‘iyyat, and many who took this story to be true, contributed to make this myth into a reality in the West. A thorough examination of the dates in this regard, however, clearly indicates that such a friendship could not have been the case though these three men may have met on different occasions. Some have argued that a possible motive for creating this story may well have been Persian nationalism, and that these three men may have been members of a Persian nationalistic movement known as Shu‘ubiyyah. Persians who had come under the domination of Arabs first and then a succession of non-Persian dynasties had reacted to their domination by producing a literary, intellectual and political movement to combat foreign domination. Politically, the Turkish Seljuqs were seen by Persians as “foreigners” who had taken over the country, and notable figures such as Khayyam and his friends may have been members of this movement. Niz.a¯m al-Mulk may have decided to work from within the system to increase the influence of Persians, while H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h may have engaged in an arms struggle against the central government. Khayyam simply refused to cooperate fully with them and preferred not to represent the foreign rulers in an official capacity. Journeys to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n and Ray

One of the major events of Omar Khayyam’s life was his trip to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n at the invitation of his friend, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk. In /, Tughrul the Selju¯q Sult.a¯n died and was succeeded by Alp Arsla¯n who replaced the grand vizier, ‘Amid al-Mulk Kondorı¯, with H . asan T.u¯sı¯, known as Niz.a¯m al-Mulk. Niz.a¯m al-Mulk had established throughout the Islamic world a series of prestigious schools named

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Niz.a¯miyyah, the most famous of which were in Baghda¯d, rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n and Naysha¯bu¯r and Khayyam must have been eager to visit the scholars of the Niz.a¯miyyah in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n. Following Niz.a¯m al-Mulk’s appointment, Khayyam, whose fame as a mathematician and astronomer had spread widely, decided to accept an invitation from a group of scientists in the city of Ray and to travel to this thriving center of learning. He was not in Ray for long before he received an invitation from Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, who invited him to go to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n, the capital of the Seljuqs. Khayyam and his entourage arrived in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n in / where they found themselves amidst opulent palaces, the ceremonies of the imperial court and a luxurious life to which they were unaccustomed. Khayyam preferred solitude to crowds, simplicity to luxury and, with his background of having come from a poor family, must have felt uncomfortable in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n; but his friend, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, saw to it that he was provided for. While in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n, Khayyam benefited from the rich libraries of the royal court of Seljuqs which offered among other treasures the writings of Euclid. Khayyam had extensive discussions with Niz.a¯m al-Mulk concerning philosophy, literature, politics and perhaps even H . asan rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯h, who by now was a legendary figure known for his piety and feared by the authorities. Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, whose patronage of the learned was well-known, extended the same courtesy to Khayyam by granting him the estate of Sha¯dya¯kh in Naysha¯bu¯r, Khayyam’s favorite neighborhood, with an annual stipend of 10, Dina¯r. When the Sult.a¯n and Niz.a¯m al-Mulk had to leave rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n for matters pertaining to the state, Khayyam stayed on until he decided to return home to Khura¯sa¯n in / Perhaps Khayyam had sensed some tension at the court exacerbated by the riots in various parts of the country. In addition, there may have been some rivalry between Khayyam and other learned scholars. A few months later Sult.a¯n Alp Arsla¯n was assassinated, and his son, Jala¯l al-Dı¯n Malik Sha¯h, came to the throne. The young king wanted to commemorate his inauguration every year but had difficulty determining an exact date. In /, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk arranged a meeting between Khayyam and the new Sult.a¯n,

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Malik Sha¯h, in the city of Marv where Khayyam was commissioned to work on a new calendar. Khayyam requested several assistants among whom were the philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, Maymun ibn Najı¯b Waset.ı¯ from Herat; Abu’l-Muzaffar Isfiza¯rı¯; H . akı¯m Abu’l-Abba¯s Lawkarı¯, who was the student of Bahmanya¯r, himself a student of Ibn Sı¯na¯; and ‘Abd rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n Kha¯zanı¯. Under the direction of Khayyam, they traveled to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n where the Sult.a¯n had promised to build an astronomical observatory for them. Following three years of hard work, a new calendar was made, known as the “taqwı¯m Jala¯lı¯.”26 One of the most thorough calendars ever produced, it remains the official calendar of Iran today. During Khayyam’s second journey to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n, which was even more intellectually fruitful than the first, he was able to study the works of Euclid, Apollonius and other Greek masters. Khayyam’s days in rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n, however, were shortened by Niz.a¯m al-Mulk’s demise from power and his subsequent assassination while on his way to perform his pilgrimage. Following the tragedy concerning the death of his friend, Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, Khayyam decided to go to Bukha¯ra¯ where the Sult.a¯n was headed, but on his way Khayyam received more bad news that the Sult.a¯n himself had died – hence began the rivalry between the two sons. Khayyam decided to go to Mecca instead to perform his pilgrimage. There may have been ulterior motives for his pilgrimage since Qift.ı¯ in Ta¯rikh rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’27 tells us that some of Khayyam’s contemporaries had accused him of having heretical tendencies, and others privately questioned his faith. Khayyam decided to perform his pilgrimage as a way of demonstrating his faith and to exonerate himself of such allegations. Khayyam returned to his native land, but he had hardly settled down before he was invited by the new Sult.a¯n to go to Marv. His fame as the leading scientist of his time and his service to the two previous kings were the reasons Sult.a¯n Sanjar had invited him to stay at the court. Khayyam accepted the offer and moved to Marv where he enjoyed the patronage of the Sult.a¯n even though his relationship with Sult.a¯n Sanjar was not as cordial as with the king’s two predecessors.

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The following story about Khayyam and Sult.a¯n Sanjar may very well be true, but, as with other accounts, cannot be substantiated. Sult.a¯n Sanjar wished to go hunting and asked Khayyam to select a day when the weather would be suitable. Khayyam, who did not believe in predicting the weather, reluctantly was forced to do so. The Sult.a¯n, who made all the necessary preparations on the specified day, ran into stormy weather and called upon Khayyam. To everyone’s surprise, Khayyam assured him that all would soon be well. Sure enough, the weather cleared, and the Sult.a¯n went into the desert with an increased respect for his chief astronomer. Return to Naysha¯bu¯r, old age and the end of a remarkable life

Declining in health, Khayyam asked the Sult.a¯n if he could return to Naysha¯bu¯r. His request was granted, and he returned to his native land amidst the happiness of his family and a hero’s welcome. The rest of Khayyam’s life was dedicated to scientific and scholarly activities, and even though he was not a prolific scholar, what he did write was original, dense and ground-breaking, particularly in the field of mathematics. Sometime around /, Khayyam reached “the winter of his life,” as Persians say, and his health continued to decline. In a recently published treatise entitled Response to Three Philosophical Problems, there is a brief reference to his health problem not noted in previous studies. The concepts and states to be enumerated are many but my time is limited and I am unable to [comment on them] since I am suffering from a terrible illness which has caused my handwriting and speech to falter. May God grant us and our brothers a good ending

It is probable that he may have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease from which he may have died. Khayyam’s last day of life is reported in some detail by his son-in-law, Ima¯m rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Baghda¯dı¯. He was studying the Shifa¯’ while he was using a golden toothpick until he reached the section on the “unity and multiplicity.” He marked the section with his toothpick, closed the book and asked his

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companions to gather so he could state his will of testament. When his companions gathered, they stood up and prayed and Khayyam refused to eat or drink until he performed his night prayer. He prostrated by putting his forehead on the ground and said “O Lord, I know you as much as it is possible for me, forgive me for my knowledge of you is my way of reaching you” and then died

Niz.a¯m . ı¯ ‘Arud.ı¯ Samarqandı¯, in his Chaha¯r maqa¯lah, composed in / and dedicated to Prince Hisha¯m al-Dı¯n Ghurrı¯, states that in /, “It was a few years since Khayyam had died” when Samarqandı¯ went to visit his grave and had this to say: In the year /, in the quarter of slave traders of Amir Bu¯ Sa‘id, I saw Ima¯m Omar Khayyamı¯ and Ima¯m rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Isfiza¯rı¯ and I heard from H . ujjat al-H . aq Omar (the evidence of truth) that he said, “my grave will be in a location that every Spring the north wind will spread flowers upon my grave.” When in , I arrived in Naysha¯bu¯r, that noble soul was buried and the corporeal world had become an orphan due to his absence. Since he was my teacher, one Friday, with a companion, I went to visit his grave in the cemetery of H . ayrah, I turned left and at the bottom of the walls of the garden saw a grave with pears and apricot trees whose blossoms had covered Khayyam’s grave just as he had predicted. This reminded me of the conversation I had heard from him in the city of Balkh, I wept, for in the four corners of the world I had seen no one like him

Omar Khayyam died, but surviving the test of time, there remains a legacy of a man whose posthumous existence and message did not have the rightful ears, for his message was too advanced for his time.

the works of omar khayyam Up to date, there are fourteen treatises that are known to have been written by Omar Khayyam. The problem of elaborating on most of them is that they are of a scientific nature and are simply too technical for the non-specialist to understand. Despite this challenge, I will attempt to offer a brief summary of each of his works. A complete translation of his philosophical treatises, some of them for the first time, will be included in the appendices.

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As one can see, Khayyam wrote little but his works are dense, original and written in very concise language. With regard to some of his works, we know the exact date of their composition, whereas with others we know their approximate date in terms of their priority and posterity to his other works. Brief accounts of Khayyam’s books are as follows: On the proposition that asserts genera are of four types (Al-qawl ‘ala¯ ajna¯s al-ladhi bi’l-arba‘ah)31

This five-page treatise is probably part of a different book by the name Sharh. al-mushkil min kita¯b al-musiqı¯ which has not survived. This treatise provides highly technical commentary on music theory that discusses the mathematical relationship among notes, minor, major and tetrachords. Khayyam makes references to the views of Fa¯ra¯bı¯ and Avicenna with regard to music and offers a reclassification of musical scales. On the elaboration of the problems concerning the books of Euclid (Risa¯lah fı¯ sharh. ma¯ ashka¯l min mus.a¯dara¯t kita¯b uqlidus)32

This treatise consists of three parts. In the first part, Khayyam refutes the possibility of doubt concerning Euclidian postulation of parallels. In the second part, he undertakes a discussion of ratios and proportions criticizing what Euclid has presented in the fifth chapter of the Principles of Euclidian Geometry. Khayyam offers mathematical proof as to why these principles are incomplete and calls for a philosophical investigation of the principles that underlie Euclidian geometry. This work can be regarded as a treatise on the philosophy of science and mathematics. In the third section, Khayyam discusses the problem of ratios, particularly the types of relationships that can exist between any three separate entities On the division of a quadrant of a circle (Risa¯lah fı¯ qismah rub‘ al-da¯’irah)34

This treatise, whose subject is mathematics nevertheless, contains references to both mathematical and philosophical achievements

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of Muslims while mentioning a number of mathematicians. These references point to the specific achievements of particular mathematicians and are significant as far as the history of science is concerned On proofs for problems Concerning Algebra (Risa¯lah fı¯ bara¯hı¯n ‘ala¯ masa¯’il al-jabr wa’l-muqa¯balah)

Khayyam dedicates this treatise to Ima¯m al-Sayyı¯d ibn T.a¯hir, a wellknown jurist of his time, and complains of the status of scientific research. I always had an insatiable appetite for research and to know possible and impossible proofs we live at a time when the few scientists we have live with thousands of difficulties in order to use the opportunities to conduct research and to actualize and strengthen the foundations of knowledge. The pseudo-scientists of our time, present truth as falsehood and do not step further beyond pretending to know

Khayyam goes on to say that before he would comment on truth in the philosophical sense, he would comment on the introductory issues in Algebra. In the Treatise on the Division of a Quadrant of a Circle, he tells us that he intends to write the book under discussion, and it appears that this treatise is precisely what he had promised to compose. He describes his own work as follows: and these equations, the learned masters before us have solved. From the other ten types [of proofs] in their works and particularly with my [type of] commentary, nothing has reached us. If I get a chance and succeed in doing so, I intend to gather all the fourteen types with their various branches and show how “possible” can be distinguished from “impossible.” So a treatise with introductory materials can be gathered which would be of great benefit in this field

This work, which was well-known throughout the Middle Ages, contains one of the first attempts to classify and discuss equations of type X2 and X

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On the deception of knowing the two quantities of gold and silver in a compound made of the two (Risa¯lah fi’l- rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯j lima‘rifat miqdar.ı¯ al-dhahab wa’rushbrookrathbone.co.uk fı¯ jism murakkab minha¯)39

As its name suggests, the central theme of this short work is to decipher different quantities of precious metals in a compound entity. The discussion is a continuation of the work of Archimedes, and Khayyam begins by explaining what a scale is and what some of its intricacies are. He continues by providing us with specific instructions as to how the process of weighing different elements could be conducted. A translation of the treatise on Avicenna’s Lucid Discourse (rushbrookrathbone.co.uk al-ghurra’ Ibn Sı¯na¯)40

This treatise by Avicenna, which has also been called Discourse on Unity (Khutbah al-Tawh.ı¯d) among other titles, was originally written in Arabic. Khayyam made an interpretive translation of it, which is why we can include this among his works. As usual, he begins by praising God, and, in describing His attributes, Khayyam questions whether they are accidental or substantial. Khayyam describes difficulties in assuming each one to be the case and then offers a discussion regarding the relationships among time, motion and God. This treatise ends with an Avicennian discussion on incorporeal substances, celestial spheres and their relationship to angels. On being and necessity (Risa¯lah fı¯’l-kawn wa’l-takl ı¯f )41

‘Abd al-Rah.ı¯m Nasawı¯, the Ima¯m and Qa¯d.ı¯ of the Fa¯rs province in /, wrote a letter to Khayyam questioning the mystery of Divine wisdom for the creation of man and religious obligations. Nasawı¯ specifically asks for clarification of certain philosophical issues, and presents them poetically to Khayyam: O, wind of rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯, oblige me and when you blow, take my greetings to ‘Allama¯h Khayyam and humbly kiss the dirt of his door with a humility that is worthy of the great rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯m and ask him of the wisdom of “being” and what is incumbent [upon us], seek their proofs and read them to me

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Referring to these complex issues, Khayyam replies to Qa¯d.ı¯ Nasawı¯43 and composes this treatise in which he states at the beginning that the question of “being” and “necessity” are among the most perplexing philosophical questions. He argues that the fundamental questions in philosophy are of three types. First, ontological questions which are concerned with “what is.” Second, the question concerning “what is it?” which pertains to the substance or essence of a thing; though Aristotle considers substance and essence to be two separate things, Khayyam seems to equate them as one. Third, “why is it?” This last question, he states, seeks to determine the cause of a thing. Many of the philosophical problems, Khayyam tells us, are due to the fact that philosophers do not properly differentiate among these three categories. He defines “being” (kawn) as the existence of contingent beings and “necessity” (taklı¯f ) as having to do with the “whatness of existent beings.” This treatise becomes somewhat less philosophical towards the end when he discusses the necessity of observing the religious laws and eschatological rewards. The necessity of contradiction in the world, determinism and subsistence 44 (D . arurat al-tad.a¯d fi’l-‘a¯lam wa’l-jabr wa’l-baqa¯’)

In the opinion of some Khayyamian scholars such as Sulayma¯n Nadawı¯, this treatise, too, is written in response to questions posed by Qa¯d.ı¯ Nasawı¯ and contains elaboration with respect to three questions. The first question deals with the nature of contradiction and its relationship to God, which Khayyam, in his subsequent discussions, applies to the problem of evil (theodicy) and of how evil comes to be. On the one hand, Khayyam tells us that God cannot be the source of evil; on the other hand, there cannot be other necessary beings besides God. Therefore, the question remains: from whence has evil come? The second question treated here concerns free will and determinism. In order to approach the problem of evil, Khayyam explores the ontological foundation of why evil exists. The third question concerns substance and whether it is an accidental attribute or essential attribute. If it is the former, it cannot be applied to the Necessary Being, and if the latter, it causes other theological and philosophical problems such as multiplicity within unity.

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The light of the intellect on the subject of universal knowledge (Risa¯lah rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’ al-‘aqlı¯ fı¯ mawd.u¯‘ al-‘ilm al-kullı¯)45

This treatise, which has also been called The Treatise on Transcendence in Existence (Al-Risa¯lah al-ula¯ fi’l-wuju¯d), investigates a number of issues such as the relationship between existent beings and existence, the accidental relationship between them and whether either of them exist by their own necessity. Finally, the relationship between essence (ma¯hiyyah) and existence (wuju¯d), which is the salient feature of Islamic philosophical thought, is also treated here. On the knowledge of the universal principles of existence (Risa¯lah dar ‘ilm kulliya¯t-i wuju¯d)46

Written in Persian, this treatise appears to have been written at the request of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk’s son since in the beginning he states, “This exalted man [Mu’ayyad al-Mulk] asked me to write on the universals of knowledge, so this treatise was written due to his request so the men of knowledge and rushbrookrathbone.co.uk come to realize that this brief [treatise] is more useful than volumes.”47 Khayyam begins this work with a discussion on such Aristotelian concepts as substance and universals and their divisions into simple and compound. He goes on to discuss a variety of standard philosophical topics such as the relationship between generation and corruption, an infinite succession of contingent dependent beings, the Aristotelian categories and the difference between the necessary and contingent beings. The book comes to an end with a classification of the seekers of knowledge into theologians, philosophers, Isma¯‘ı¯lı¯s and Sufis. It is here that Khayyam unequivocally supports Sufism by saying, “This tradition is the best of all, for the seeker knows that no perfection is better than His majesty, God, and that state is one in which there is no obstacle and veil.”48 The Treatise on the Universal Principles of Existence has a special place in Khayyam’s philosophical thought in that it was his last philosophical treatise and was written long after he had completed his other works Therefore, it provides us with a better picture on the nature of Khayyamian philosophical thought, which on one

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hand relies on discursive philosophy as a way of pursuing knowledge, and on the other hand, demonstrates a tendency towards intuitive knowledge whereby reason is incapable of understanding the truth. His mystical tendencies are most apparent at the end of this work and are in line with many other Persian philosophers including Avicenna, who developed mystical views in his mature years. On existence (Risa¯lah fi’l-wuju¯d)

Written in Arabic, this treatise begins with a discussion of different types of accidents and how the intellect is able to comprehend the essence of things. Khayyam discusses topics such as existence, the meaning of existence and non-existence, the necessary and contingent beings and in what way God can be regarded as the cause of creation so that motion is not introduced into Divine nature. In addition, he introduces examples to support the theory of emanation, such as how fire produces light without intending to do so. Response to three philosophical problems (Risa¯lah jawa¯ba¯n thula¯th masa¯’il)50

Over four decades ago, M. Minovı¯ wrote a major article announcing the discovery of this treatise by Khayyam In this unpublished work of Khayyam, we learn for the first time that he went to the province of Fa¯rs where he met the grand jurist, a man by the name of Abu¯ T.a¯hir, with whom he had an intellectual exchange of ideas. In the beginning of his response to the second question in this work, Khayyam says, “In /, when I was staying in Fa¯rs, I wrote a treatise on this subject matter for the grand judge (Qa¯d.ı¯ al-Qud.d.a¯t) of Fa¯rs, Abu¯ T.a¯hir. A copy of it is in Fa¯rs, rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯n and Baghda¯d, but I do not have a copy.”52 This work, written in Arabic, primarily treats three topics. The first is whether a rational soul survives the death of the body in such a way that its individuality remains specific to it. Secondly, is it possible for contingent events to have a single cause? In this context, he discusses the problem of succession of contingent, dependent beings. The third discussion covers the subject of time and of how it is intertwined

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with the notion of motion, in particular, the extent of celestial movements and how this motion does not exist by its own necessity. At the end of this treatise, there is a one and one-half page addendum; it is not clear if it belongs to Khayyam, but the style and the theme is consistent with the rest of the treatise and discusses existence and essence. On discovering the truth of Noru¯z (Risa¯lah dar kashf rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Noru¯z)53

By all accounts the treatise known as Noru¯z na¯mah, which traditionally has been attributed to Khayyam, is an apocryphal text; and, in this regard, I have adopted Ma¯lik’s modified name,54 Treatise on Discovering the Truth of Noru¯z, to refer to a particular part of Noru¯z na¯mah. There are three parts to this work, only one of which was likely to have been written by Khayyam himself. This treatise is very different from other works of Khayyam, both stylistically and substantively. The work is entirely on the ancient Persian new year known as “Noru¯z,” literally meaning, “the new day,” which occurs in the beginning of the spring equinox. Khayyam provides a brief history of Noru¯z according to Persian mythology and then offers a detailed account of the etymological analysis of the Persian names of the twelve months of the year which are in Pahlavı¯ language. This work ends with an historical account of the reign of different Persian emperors. I find it highly improbable that this part of Noru¯z na¯mah may have been written by Khayyam; neither its style or content remotely resemble other writings of Khayyam. It is unlikely that Khayyam would have made such grave mistakes in describing the etymological roots of the names of months such as “Isfand,” which in Pahlavi language means “pure, sacred,” but Khayyam says it means “fruit!” Khayyam’s thoroughness is evident in his philosophical and scientific works as well as his debates with other scholars concerning etymological and morphological connotations of certain Qur’anic terms. Would a man who pays so much attention to details be so careless? Reference to this treatise here was deemed necessary since historically a number of scholars have regarded Khayyam’s authorship as a possibility.

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Quatrains and other poems (Ruba‘iyyat wa ash‘a¯r)

Perhaps the most difficult and controversial aspect of Khayyamian studies are his Ruba‘iyyat, most of which are in Persian and a few in Arabic. The number of these poems varies greatly from twelve to several hundred, and even up to 1, poems attributed to him in various versions and editions. Despite a long history of heated debates, articles, books and conferences regarding the number of authentic poems, Khayyam’s authentic Ruba‘iyyat remains a mystery. Suffice it to say that most of these quatrains are written in simple but exquisite Persian. A thorough analysis of Khayyam’s Persian Ruba‘iyyat is offered in Chapter Four of this work, but something must be said about his Arabic poems. It is noteworthy that even though it is the Persian Ruba‘iyyat for which Khayyam has gained such a legendary fame, twenty-five Arabic poems each consisting of two hemistiches are also attributed to him. These poems, also subject to the question of authenticity are virtually omitted from traditional scholarship on Khayyam. ‘Ima¯d al-Dı¯n Ka¯tib in his Kharidat al-qas.r 55 is the earliest source where four of these poems are mentioned, Shahrazurı¯ in his Nuzhat al-arwa¯h. mentions these poems and cites an additional three poems. In a different part of Nuzhat al-arwa¯h., Shahrazurı¯ includes another three poems Among others who have quoted Khayyam’s Arabic poems are Qift.ı¯ who mentions four poems in his Ta¯rikh rushbrookrathbone.co.uk¯’,57 and in Itma¯m al-tatimmah58 we find eleven poems that are not mentioned by others. In his Arabic poems, similar to his quatrains in Persian, Khayyam expresses his deep disappointment with betrayal and the beastly nature of humans. In one poem he remarks: I spent my life looking for a brother I can trust, One who will stand by me if others betrayed me, I befriended many but found how unworthy they are, Changed companions but failed to find true friends I said to myself “cease your search for in this life, You shall not find a true human you can trust.”59

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2

u Reconstructing a Tarnished Image: Omar Khayyam According to his Contemporaries and Biographers Eternal Cause when first my being wrought, A course in Love from very start He taught; Then of the filings of my loving heart, A key He made for treasure-house of thought.1

F

ew people in the annals of Islamic literature are more controversial and misunderstood than Omar Khayyam. The ideas of this multidimensional figure lend themselves to different interpretations. An atheist, an agnostic and a hedonist can each easily find evidence in Khayyam’s thought to claim him as one of their own; and Sufis,2 too, can offer a spiritual interpretation of the imagery contained in the Ruba‘iyyat to argue that Khayyam perhaps belonged to an antinomian Sufi tradition such as Mala¯matiyyah.3 However, there is the other extreme that views him as a man of faith by simply negating the attribution of these Ruba‘iyyat to him.4 In what follows, I will attempt to reconstruct the image of Khayyam’s complex personality based on authoritative sources; some were his contemporaries who had met him and others lived not too long after him. These sources, some of them translated into English for the first time, provide us with a more complete perspective of Khayyam’s personality, intellectual orientation and personal

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views on faith and heresy. As will be seen, Khayyam was a controversial figure even in his own time, and there were ambiguities regarding his faith. But he also seemed to enjoy a high degree of respect in his community, which would not have been possible had he been branded as a heretic. The oldest source in which Omar Khayyam is mentioned is a let¯ dam, also known as Sana¯’ı¯ ter which Abu¯’l Majd Majdud ibn A 5 Ghaznavı¯, wrote to Khayyam from Herat asking for his intervention regarding a misunderstanding. An account of the story has been included in the previous chapter, and the letter itself is among the most beautiful examples of Persian literature. While the letter is too long to include here in its entirety, the most relevant section where Khayyam is mentioned is as follows: The purpose of this letter is to attest that since Omar is attentive to guard the substance of the honor of prophecy, then he is not impervious to care for the pearl of wisdom either, for the Book [Qur’an] and wisdom are two jewels in a shell as the holy Qur’an says.6 For [the understanding of ] a book such as that [Qur’an] requires an Omar such as you and wisdom too needs an Omar with your stature; so using prosperity, these two domains can become prosperous. Cleansing of these two domains requires the authoritativeness of a man such as you Omar, may your life be one with that of a mountain [in its endurance] The expectation of this sincere lover [of wisdom] is that when this letter reaches the leader of rushbrookrathbone.co.ukı¯ ms, at once like ‘Alı¯ with the Zulfaqa¯r7 of tongue, run to them and with an Omarian awesomeness, tear their intentions to pieces.8

Perhaps the most important feature of this quotation is that it is written by Sana¯’ı¯, a literary genius and a man of considerable fame. In his letter, Sana¯’ı¯ praises Khayyam on a number of issues which reveals much about Khayyam’s personality as well as his standing in the society. In the entire letter, there is no mention or reference to Khayyam’s poetry, and that strengthens the case of those who have argued that Khayyam was not a poet. If Khayyam had written poems, it is reasonable to expect that the issue of poetry would have come up in conversation between the two poets. However, there is no evidence of such discussions, adding credence to the theory that

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