Born : 18 May 1048, Nishapur, Khorasan (present-day Iran)
Died : 4 December 1131 (aged 83), Nishapur, Khorasan (present-day
Iran)
Main interests : Mathematics, Astronomy, Avicennism, Poetry.
Omar Khayyam (/kaɪˈjɑːm/; Persian: عمر خیّام [oˈmæɾ xæjˈjɒːm]; 18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was
a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. He was
born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran, and spent most of his life
near the court of the Karakhanid and Seljuq rulers in the
period which witnessed the First Crusade.
As a mathematician, he
is most notable for his work on the classification and solution of cubic
equations, where he provided geometric solutions by the intersection
of conics. Khayyam also contributed to the understanding of
the parallel axiom. As an astronomer, he designed the Jalali
calendar, a solar calendar with a very precise 33-year intercalation
cycle.
There is a tradition of
attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam, written in the form
of quatrains (rubāʿiyāt رباعیات). This poetry became widely known to the English-reading world in a
translation by Edward FitzGerald (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
1859), which enjoyed great success in the Orientalism of the fin
de siècle.
Life
Omar Khayyam was born
in 1048 in Nishapur, a leading metropolis in Khorasan during medieval
times that reached its zenith of prosperity in the eleventh century under
the Seljuq dynasty. Nishapur was also a major center of the Zoroastrian
religion, and it is likely that Khayyam's father was a Zoroastrian who had
converted to Islam. His full name, as it appears in the Arabic sources,
was Abu’l Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam. In medieval
Persian texts he is usually simply called Omar Khayyam. Although
open to doubt, since Khayyam means tent-maker in
Arabic, it has often been assumed that his forebears followed that
trade. The historian Bayhaqi, who was personally acquainted with
Omar, provides the full details of his horoscope: "he was Gemini, the sun
and Mercury being in the ascendant[...]". This was used by modern
scholars to establish his date of birth as 18 May 1048.
His boyhood was spent
in Nishapur. His gifts were recognized by his early tutors who sent him to
study under Imam Muwaffaq Nishaburi, the greatest teacher of the Khorasan
region who tutored the children of the highest nobility. After studying
science, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy at Nishapur, about the year 1068
he travelled to the province of Bukhara, where he frequented the renowned library
of the Ark. In about 1070 he moved to Samarkand, where he started to compose
his famous treatise on algebra under the patronage of Abu Tahir Abd
al-Rahman ibn ʿAlaq, the governor and chief judge of the
city. Omar Khayyam was kindly received by the Karakhanid ruler Shams
al-Mulk Nasr, who according to Bayhaqi, would "show him the greatest
honour, so much so that he would seat [Omar] beside him on
his throne".
In 1073–4 peace was
concluded with Sultan Malik-Shah I who had made incursions into
Karakhanid dominions. Khayyam entered the service of Malik-Shah in 1074–5 when
he was invited by the Grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk to meet
Malik-Shah in the city of Marv. Khayyam was subsequently commissioned to
set up an observatory in Isfahan and lead a group of scientists in
carrying out precise astronomical observations aimed at the revision of the
Persian calendar. The undertaking began probably in 1076 and ended in
1079 when Omar Khayyam and his colleagues concluded their measurements of
the length of the year, reporting it to 14 significant figures with astounding
accuracy.
After the death of
Malik-Shah and his vizier (murdered, it is thought, by
the Ismaili order of Assassins), Omar fell from favour at court, and
as a result, he soon set out on his pilgrimage to Mecca. A possible
ulterior motive for his pilgrimage reported by Al-Qifti, was a public
demonstration of his faith with a view to allaying suspicions of skepticism and
confuting the allegations of unorthodoxy levelled at him by a hostile clergy. He
was then invited by the new Sultan Sanjar to Marv, possibly to work
as a court astrologer. He was later allowed to return to Nishapur
owing to his declining health. Upon his return, he seems to have lived the life
of a recluse.
Omar Khayyam died at
the age of 83 in his hometown of Nishapur on December 4, 1131, and he is buried
in what is now the Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam. One of his
disciples Nizami Aruzi relates the story that some time during 1112–3
Khayyam was in Balkh in the company of Al-Isfizari (one of
the scientists who had collaborated with him on the Jalali calendar) when he
made a prophecy that "my tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may
scatter roses over it". Four years after his death, Aruzi located his
tomb in a cemetery in a then large and well-known quarter of Nishapur on the
road to Marv. As it had been foreseen by Khayyam, Aruzi found the tomb situated
at the foot of a garden-wall over which pear trees and peach trees had thrust
their heads and dropped their flowers so that his tomb stone was hidden beneath
them.
Mathematics
Khayyam was famous
during his life as a mathematician. His surviving mathematical works
include: A commentary on the difficulties concerning the postulates of
Euclid's Elements (Risāla fī šarḥ mā aškala min
muṣādarāt kitāb Uqlīdis, completed in December 1077), On the division
of a quadrant of a circle (Risālah
fī qismah rub‘ al-dā’irah, undated but completed prior to the treatise on
algebra), and On proofs for problems concerning Algebra (Maqāla
fi l-jabr wa l-muqābala, most likely completed in 1079). He furthermore
wrote a treatise on extracting binomial theorem and
the root of natural numbers, which has been lost.
Theory
of parallels
Khayyam was the first
to consider the three cases of acute, obtuse, and right angle for the summit
angles of a Khayyam-Saccheri quadrilateral, three cases which are
exhaustive and pairwise mutually exclusive. After proving a number of
theorems about them, he proved that the Postulate V is a consequence of the
right angle hypothesis, and refuted the obtuse and acute cases as
self-contradictory. Khayyam's elaborate attempt to prove the parallel
postulate was significant for the further development of geometry, as it
clearly shows the possibility of non-Euclidean geometries. The hypotheses of
the acute, the obtuse, and the right angle are now known to lead respectively
to the non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry of Gauss-Bolyai-Lobachevsky,
to that of Riemannian geometry, and to Euclidean geometry. A
part of Khayyam's commentary on Euclid's Elements deals with the parallel
axiom. The treatise of Khayyam can be considered the first treatment of
the axiom not based on petitio principii, but on a more intuitive
postulate. Khayyam refutes the previous attempts by other mathematicians
to prove the proposition, mainly on grounds that each of them
had postulated something that was by no means easier to admit than the Fifth
Postulate itself. Drawing
upon Aristotle's views, he rejects the usage of movement in geometry and
therefore dismisses the different attempt by Al-Haytham. Unsatisfied
with the failure of mathematicians to prove Euclid's statement from his other
postulates, Omar tried to connect the axiom with the Fourth Postulate, which
states that all right angles are equal to one another.
"Cubic equation and intersection of conic
sections" the
first page of two-chaptered manuscript kept in Tehran
University.
Tusi's commentaries on
Khayyam's treatment of parallels made its way to Europe. John Wallis,
professor of geometry at Oxford, translated Tusi's commentary into Latin.
Jesuit geometer Girolamo Saccheri, whose work (euclides ab omni naevo
vindicatus, 1733) is generally considered as the first step in the eventual
development of non-Euclidean geometry, was familiar with the work of
Wallis. The American historian of mathematics, David Eugene Smith,
mentions that Saccheri "used the same lemma as the one of Tusi, even
lettering the figure in precisely the same way and using the lemma for the same
purpose". He further says that "Tusi distinctly states that it is due
to Omar Khayyam, and from the text, it seems clear that the latter was his
inspirer."
The
real number concept
This treatise on Euclid
contains another contribution dealing with the theory of
proportions and with the compounding of ratios. Khayyam discusses the
relationship between the concept of ratio and the concept of number and
explicitly raises various theoretical difficulties. In particular, he
contributes to the theoretical study of the concept of irrational
number. Displeased with Euclid's definition of equal ratios, he redefined
the concept of a number by the use of a continuous fraction as the means of
expressing a ratio. Rosenfeld and Youschkevitch (1973) argue that "by
placing irrational quantities and numbers on the same operational scale,
[Khayyam] began a true revolution in the doctrine of number." Likewise, it
was noted by D. J. Struik that Omar was "on the road to that
extension of the number concept which leads to the notion of the real
number."
Geometric
algebra
Omar Khayyam's construction of a solution to
the cubic x3 + 2x = 2x2 + 2. The intersection point produced
by the circle and the hyperbola determine the desired
segment.
Rashed and Vahabzadeh
(2000) have argued that because of his thoroughgoing geometrical approach to
algebraic equations, Khayyam can be considered the precursor
of Descartes in the invention of analytic
geometry. In The Treatise on the Division of a Quadrant of a
Circle Khayyam applied algebra to geometry. In this work, he devoted
himself mainly to investigating whether it is possible to divide a circular
quadrant into two parts such that the line segments projected from the dividing
point to the perpendicular diameters of the circle form a specific ratio. His
solution, in turn, employed several curve constructions that led to equations
containing cubic and quadratic terms.
The
solution of cubic equations
Khayyam seems to have
been the first to conceive a general theory of cubic equations and the
first to geometrically solve every type of cubic equation, so far as positive
roots are concerned. The treatise on algebra contains his work
on cubic equations. It is divided into three parts: (i) equations which
can be solved with compass and straight edge, (ii) equations which can be
solved by means of conic sections, and (iii) equations which involve
the inverse of the unknown.
Khayyam produced an
exhaustive list of all possible equations involving lines, squares, and
cubes. He considered three binomial equations, nine trinomial equations,
and seven tetranomial equations. For the first and second degree
polynomials, he provided numerical solutions by geometric construction. He
concluded that there are fourteen different types of cubics that cannot be
reduced to an equation of a lesser degree. For these he could not
accomplish the construction of his unknown segment with compass and straight
edge. He proceeded to present geometric solutions to all types of cubic
equations using the properties of conic sections. The prerequisite lemmas
for Khayyam’s geometrical proof include Euclid VI, Prop 13,
and Apollonius II, Prop 12. The positive root of a cubic equation was
determined as the abscissa of a point of intersection of two conics,
for instance, the intersection of two parabolas, or the intersection of a
parabola and a circle, etc. However, he acknowledged that the arithmetic
problem of these cubics was still unsolved, adding that "possibly someone else
will come to know it after us". This task remained open until the
sixteenth century, where algebraic solution of the cubic equation was found in
its generality by Cardano, Del Ferro,
and Tartaglia in Renaissance Italy.
Whoever
thinks algebra is a trick in obtaining unknowns has thought it in
vain. No attention should be paid to the fact that algebra
and geometry are different in appearance. Algebras are geometric
facts which are proved by propositions five and six of Book two
of Elements.
Omar Khayyam
In effect, Khayyam's
work is an effort to unify algebra and geometry. This particular geometric
solution of cubic equations has been further investigated by M.
Hachtroudi and extended to solving fourth-degree equations. Although
similar methods had appeared sporadically since Menaechmus, and further
developed by the 10th-century mathematician Abu al-Jud, Khayyam's
work can be considered the first systematic study and the first exact method of
solving cubic equations.[ The
mathematician Woepcke (1851) who offered translations of Khayyam's
algebra into French praised him for his "power of generalization and his
rigorously systematic procedure."
Binomial
theorem and extraction of roots
In his algebraic
treatise, Khayyam alludes to a book he had written on the extraction of
the th root of the numbers using a law he had discovered which did not
depend on geometric figures. This book was most likely titled The
difficulties of arithmetic (Moškelāt al-hesāb), and is not
extant. Based on the context, some historians of mathematics such as D. J.
Struik, believe that Omar must have known the formula for the expansion of the
binomial, where n is a positive integer. The case of power 2 is explicitly stated in Euclid's
elements and the case of at most power 3 had been established by Indian
mathematicians. Khayyam was the mathematician who noticed the importance of a
general binomial theorem. The argument supporting the claim that Khayyam had a
general binomial theorem is based on his ability to extract roots. The
arrangement of numbers known as Pascal's triangle enables one to
write down the coefficients in a binomial expansion. This triangular
array sometimes is known as Omar Khayyam's triangle.
Astronomy
Representation of the
intercalation scheme of the Jalali calendar
In 1074–5, Omar Khayyam
was commissioned by Sultan Malik-Shah to build an observatory at
Isfahan and reform the Persian calendar. There was a panel of eight
scholars working under the direction of Khayyam to make large-scale
astronomical observations and revise the astronomical tables. Recalibrating
the calendar fixed the first day of the year at the exact moment of the passing
of the Sun's center across vernal equinox. This marks the beginning of
spring or Nowrūz, a day in which the Sun enters the first degree
of Aries before noon. The resulted calendar was named in
Malik-Shah's honor as the Jalālī calendar, and was inaugurated on March
15, 1079. The observatory itself was disused after the death of
Malik-Shah in 1092.
The Jalālī calendar was
a true solar calendar where the duration of each month is equal to the
time of the passage of the Sun across the corresponding sign of
the Zodiac. The calendar reform introduced a unique
33-year intercalation cycle. As indicated by the works
of Khazini, Khayyam's group implemented an intercalation system based on
quadrennial and quinquennial leap years. Therefore, the calendar consisted
of 25 ordinary years that included 365 days, and 8 leap years that included 366
days. The calendar remained in use across Greater Iran from the
11th to the 20th centuries. In 1911 the Jalali calendar became the official
national calendar of Qajar Iran. In 1925 this calendar was simplified and
the names of the months were modernized, resulting in the modern Iranian
calendar. The Jalali calendar is more accurate than the Gregorian
calendar of 1582, with an error of one day accumulating over 5,000
years, compared to one day every 3,330 years in the Gregorian
calendar. Moritz Cantor considered it the most perfect calendar ever
devised.
One of his
pupils Nizami Aruzi of Samarcand relates that Khayyam apparently did
not have a belief in astrology and divination: "I did not observe that he
(scil. Omar Khayyam) had any great belief in astrological
predictions, nor have I seen or heard of any of the great [scientists] who had
such belief." While working for Sultan Sanjar as an astrologer he was
asked to predict the weather – a job that he apparently did not do
well. George Saliba (2002) explains that the term ‘ilm al-nujūm,
used in various sources in which references to Omar's life and work could be
found, has sometimes been incorrectly translated to mean astrology. He adds:
"from at least the middle of the tenth century, according to Farabi's
enumeration of the sciences, that this science, ‘ilm
al-nujūm, was already split into two parts, one dealing with astrology and the
other with theoretical mathematical astronomy."
A popular claim to the
effect that Khayyam believed in heliocentrism is based on Edward
FitzGerald's popular but anachronistic rendering of Khayyam's poetry, in which
the first lines are mistranslated with a heliocentric image of the Sun flinging
"the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight". In fact the most popular
version of FitzGerald's translation of the first lines of Khayyam's Rubaiyat is
"Awake! For Morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the
stars to flight.
Other
works
He has a short treatise
devoted to Archimedes' principle (in full title, On the
Deception of Knowing the Two Quantities of Gold and Silver in a Compound Made
of the Two). For a compound of gold adulterated with silver, he describes a
method to measure more exactly the weight per capacity of each element. It
involves weighing the compound both in air and in water, since weights are
easier to measure exactly than volumes. By repeating the same with both gold
and silver one finds exactly how much heavier than water gold, silver and the
compound were. This treatise was extensively examined by Eilhard
Wiedemann who believed that Khayyam's solution was more accurate and
sophisticated than that of Khazini and Al-Nayrizi who also
dealt with the subject elsewhere.
Another short treatise
is concerned with music theory in which he discusses the connection
between music and arithmetic. Khayyam's contribution was in providing a systematic
classification of musical scales, and discussing the mathematical relationship
among notes, minor, major and tetrachords.
Poetry
Rendition of a ruba'i from
the Bodleian ms, rendered in Shekasteh calligraphy.
The earliest allusion
to Omar Khayyam's poetry is from the historian Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, a
younger contemporary of Khayyam, who explicitly identifies him as both a poet
and a scientist (Kharidat al-qasr, 1174). One of the earliest
specimens of Omar Khayyam's Rubiyat is from Fakhr al-Din Razi. In his
work Al-tanbih ‘ala ba‘d asrar al-maw‘dat fi’l-Qur’an (ca. 1160), he
quotes one of his poems (corresponding to quatrain LXII of FitzGerald's first
edition). Daya in his writings (Mirsad
al-‘Ibad, ca. 1230) quotes two quatrains, one of which is the same as the one
already reported by Razi. An additional quatrain is quoted by the
historian Juvayni (Tarikh-i
Jahangushay, ca. 1226–1283). In 1340 Jajarmi includes thirteen quatrains of
Khayyam in his work containing an anthology of the works of famous Persian
poets (Munis al-ahrār), two of which have hitherto been known from the
older sources. A comparatively late manuscript is
the Bodleian MS. Ouseley 140, written in Shiraz in 1460,
which contains 158 quatrains on 47 folia. The manuscript belonged
to William Ouseley (1767–1842) and was purchased by the Bodleian
Library in 1844.
Ottoman Era inscription of a poem written by Omar
Khayyam
at Morića Han in Sarajevo, Bosnia
and Herzegovina
There are occasional
quotes of verses attributed to Omar in texts attributed to authors of the 13th
and 14th centuries, but these are also of doubtful authenticity, so that
skeptic scholars point out that the entire tradition may
be pseudepigraphic.
Hans Heinrich
Schaeder in 1934 commented that the name of Omar Khayyam "is to be
struck out from the history of Persian literature" due to the lack of any
material that could confidently be attributed to him. De Blois (2004) presents
a bibliography of the manuscript tradition, concluding pessimistically that the
situation has not changed significantly since Schaeder's time. Five of the
quatrains later attributed to Omar are found as early as 30 years after his
death, quoted in Sindbad-Nameh. While this establishes that these
specific verses were in circulation in Omar's time or shortly later, it doesn't
imply that the verses must be his. De Blois concludes that at the least the
process of attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam appears to have begun already in
the 13th century. Edward Granville Browne (1906) notes the difficulty
of disentangling authentic from spurious quatrains: "while it is certain
that Khayyam wrote many quatrains, it is hardly possible, save in a few
exceptional cases, to assert positively that he wrote any of those ascribed to
him".
In addition to the
Persian quatrains, there are twenty-five Arabic poems attributed to Khayyam
which are attested by historians such as al-Isfahani, Shahrazuri (Nuzhat
al-Arwah, ca. 1201–1211), Qifti (Tārikh
al-hukamā, 1255), and Hamdallah Mustawfi (Tarikh-i
guzida, 1339).
Boyle and Frye (1975)
emphasize that there are a number of other Persian scholars who occasionally
wrote quatrains, including Avicenna, Ghazzali, and Tusi. He concludes that it
is also possible that poetry with Khayyam was the amusement of his leisure hours:
"these brief poems seem often to have been the work of scholars and
scientists who composed them, perhaps, in moments of relaxation to edify or
amuse the inner circle of their disciples".
The poetry attributed
to Omar Khayyam has contributed greatly to his popular fame in the modern
period as a direct result of the extreme popularity of the translation of such
verses into English by Edward FitzGerald (1859). FitzGerald's Rubaiyat
of Omar Khayyam contains loose translations of quatrains from The
Bodleian manuscript. It enjoyed such success in the fin de
siècle period that a bibliography compiled in 1929 listed more than 300
separate editions, and many more have been published since.
Philosophy
Statue of Omar Khayyam
in Bucharest
Khayyam considered
himself intellectually to be a student of Avicenna. According to
Al-Bayhaqi, he was reading the metaphysics in Avicenna's the Book of
Healing before he died. There are six philosophical papers
believed to have been written by Khayyam. One of them, On existence (Fi’l-wujūd), was written
originally in Persian and deals with the subject of existence and its
relationship to universals. Another paper, titled The necessity of
contradiction in the world, determinism and subsistence (Darurat
al-tadād fi’l-‘ālam wa’l-jabr wa’l-baqā’), is written in Arabic
and deals with free will and determinism. The titles of his
other works are On being and necessity (Risālah
fī’l-kawn wa’l-taklīf), The Treatise on Transcendence in Existence (Al-Risālah
al-ulā fi’l-wujūd), On the knowledge of the universal principles of existence (Risālah
dar ‘ilm kulliyāt-i wujūd), and Abridgement concerning natural
phenomena (Mukhtasar fi’l-Tabi‘iyyāt).
Religious
views
A literal reading of
Khayyam's quatrains leads to the interpretation of his philosophic attitude
toward life as a combination
of pessimism, nihilism, Epicureanism, fatalism,
and agnosticism. This view is taken by Iranologists such as
Arthur Christensen, H. Schaeder, Richard N. Frye, E. D.
Ross, E.H. Whinfield and George Sarton. Conversely, the
Khayyamic quatrains have also been described as mystical Sufi poetry.
However, this is the view of a minority of scholars. In addition to his
Persian quatrains, J. C. E. Bowen (1973) mentions that Khayyam's Arabic poems
also "express a pessimistic viewpoint which is entirely consonant with the
outlook of the deeply thoughtful rationalist philosopher that Khayyam is known
historically to have been." Edward FitzGerald emphasized the
religious skepticism he found in Khayyam. In his preface to the Rubáiyát he
claimed that he "was hated and dreaded by the Sufis", and denied
any pretense at divine allegory: "his Wine is the veritable Juice of the
Grape: his Tavern, where it was to be had: his Saki, the Flesh and
Blood that poured it out for him." Sadegh Hedayat is one of the
most notable proponents of Khayyam's philosophy as agnostic skepticism, and
according to Jan Rypka (1934), he even considered Khayyam
an atheist. Hedayat (1923) states that "while Khayyam believes
in the transmutation and transformation of the human body, he does not believe
in a separate soul; if we are lucky, our bodily particles would be used in the
making of a jug of wine." In a later study (1934–35) he further
contends that Khayyam's usage of Sufic terminology such as "wine" is
literal and that he turned to the pleasures of the moment as an
antidote to his existential sorrow: "Khayyam took refuge in wine to ward
off bitterness and to blunt the cutting edge of his thoughts." In
this tradition, Omar Khayyam's poetry has been cited in the context of New
Atheism, e.g. in The Portable Atheist by Christopher
Hitchens.
Al-Qifti (ca.
1172–1248) appears to confirm this view of Omar's philosophy. In his
work The History of Learned Men he reports that Omar's poems
were only outwardly in the Sufi style, but were written with an anti-religious
agenda. He also mentions that he was at one point indicted for impiety,
but went on a pilgrimage to prove he was pious. The report has it that
upon returning to his native city he concealed his deepest convictions and
practised a strictly religious life, going morning and evening to the place of
worship.
In the context of a
piece entitled On the Knowledge Of the Principals of Existence,
Khayyam endorses the Sufi path. Csillik (1960) suggests the possibility
that Omar Khayyam could see in Sufism an ally against orthodox
religiosity. Other commentators do not accept that Omar's poetry has an
anti-religious agenda and interpret his references to wine and drunkenness in
the conventional metaphorical sense common in Sufism. The French translator J.
B. Nicolas held that Omar's constant exhortations to drink wine should not be
taken literally, but should be regarded rather in the light of Sufi thought
where rapturous intoxication by "wine" is to be understood as a
metaphor for the enlightened state or divine rapture of baqaa. The
view of Omar Khayyam as a Sufi was defended by Bjerregaard (1915), Idries
Shah (1999), and Dougan (1991) who attributes the reputation of
hedonism to the failings of FitzGerald's translation, arguing that Omar's
poetry is to be understood as "deeply esoteric". On the other
hand, Iranian experts such as Mohammad Ali Foroughi and Mojtaba
Minovi rejected the hypothesis that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi. Foroughi
stated that Khayyam's ideas may have been consistent with that of Sufis at
times but there is no evidence that he was formally a Sufi. Aminrazavi (2007)
states that "Sufi interpretation of Khayyam is possible only by reading
into his Rubāʿīyyāt extensively and by stretching the content
to fit the classical Sufi doctrine." Furthermore, Frye (1975)
emphasizes that Khayyam was intensely disliked by a number of celebrated Sufi
mystics who belonged to the same century. This includes Shams
Tabrizi (spiritual guide of Rumi), Najm al-Din Daya who
described Omar Khayyam as "an unhappy philosopher, atheist, and
materialist", and Attar who regarded him not as a
fellow-mystic but a free-thinking scientist who awaited punishments hereafter.
Seyyed Hossein
Nasr argues that it is "reductive" to use a literal
interpretation of his verses (many of which are of uncertain authenticity to
begin with) to establish Omar Khayyam's philosophy. Instead, he adduces
Khayyam's interpretive translation of Avicenna's treatise Discourse
on Unity (Al-Khutbat al-Tawhīd), where he expresses orthodox
views on Divine Unity in agreement with the author. The prose
works believed to be Omar's are written in the Peripatetic style and
are explicitly theistic, dealing with subjects such as the existence of
God and theodicy. As noted by Bowen these works indicate his
involvement in the problems of metaphysics rather than in the subtleties of
Sufism. As evidence of Khayyam's faith and/or conformity to Islamic
customs, Aminrazavi mentions that in his treatises he offers salutations and
prayers, praising God and Muhammad. In most biographical extracts, he is
referred to with religious honorifics such as Imām, The
Patron of Faith (Ghīyāth al-Dīn), and The
Evidence of Truth (Hujjat al-Haqq). He also notes
that biographers who praise his religiosity generally avoid making reference to
his poetry, while the ones who mention his poetry often do not praise his
religious character. For instance Al-Bayhaqi's account which antedates by
some years other biographical notices, speaks of Omar as a very pious man who
professed orthodox views down to his last hour.
On the basis of all the
existing textual and biographical evidence, the question remains somewhat
open, and as a result Khayyam has received sharply conflicting
appreciations and criticisms.
Reception
"A Ruby kindles in the vine", illustration
for FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (ca. 1905).
"At the Tomb of
Omar Khayyam" by Jay Hambidge (1911).
The various
biographical extracts referring to Omar Khayyam describe him as unequalled in
scientific knowledge and achievement during his time. Many called him by
the epithet King of the Wise (Arabic: ملک الحکما). Shahrazuri (d.
1300) esteems him highly as a mathematician, and claims that he may be regarded
as "the successor of Avicenna in the various branches of philosophic
learning." Al-Qifti (d. 1248) even though disagreeing with his
views concedes he was "unrivalled in his knowledge of natural philosophy
and astronomy." Despite being hailed as a poet by a number of
biographers, according to Richard Nelson Frye "it is still
possible to argue that Khayyam's status as a poet of the first rank is a
comparatively late development."
Thomas Hyde was
the first European to call attention to Omar and to translate one of his
quatrains into Latin (Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque magorum, Western
interest in Persia grew with the Orientalism movement in the 19th
century. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774–1856) translated some of
Khayyam's poems into German in 1818, and Gore Ouseley (1770–1844)
into English in 1846, but Khayyam remained relatively unknown in the West until
after the publication of Edward FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam in 1859. FitzGerald's work at first was unsuccessful but was
popularised by Whitley Stokes from 1861 onward, and the work came to
be greatly admired by the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1872 FitzGerald had a third
edition printed which increased interest in the work in America. By the 1880s,
the book was extremely well known throughout the English-speaking world, to the
extent of the formation of numerous "Omar Khayyam Clubs" and a
"fin de siècle cult of the Rubaiyat" Khayyam's poems have been
translated into many languages; many of the more recent ones are more literal
than that of FitzGerald.
FitzGerald's
translation was a factor in rekindling interest in Khayyam as a poet even in
his native Iran. Sadegh Hedayat in his Songs of Khayyam (Taranehha-ye
Khayyam, 1934) reintroduced Omar's poetic legacy to modern Iran. Under
the Pahlavi dynasty, a new monument of white marble, designed by
the architect Houshang Seyhoun, was erected over his tomb. A statue
by Abolhassan Sadighi was erected in Laleh
Park, Tehran in the 1960s, and a bust by the same sculptor was placed
near Khayyam's mausoleum in Nishapur. In 2009, the state of Iran donated
a pavilion to the United Nations Office in Vienna, inaugurated
at Vienna International Center. In 2016, three statues of Khayyam
were unveiled: one at the University of Oklahoma, one in Nishapur and one
in Florence, Italy. Over 150 composers have used the Rubaiyat as
their source of inspiration. The earliest such composer was Liza Lehmann.
FitzGerald rendered
Omar's name as "Tentmaker", and the anglicized name of "Omar the
Tentmaker" resonated in English-speaking popular culture for a while.
Thus, Nathan Haskell Dole published a novel called Omar, the
Tentmaker: A Romance of Old Persia in 1898. Omar the Tentmaker
of Naishapur is a historical novel by John Smith Clarke, published in
1910. "Omar the Tentmaker" is also the title of a 1914 play
by Richard Walton Tully in an oriental setting, adapted as
a silent film in 1922. US General Omar Bradley was given
the nickname "Omar the Tent-Maker" in World War II.
The lunar
crater Omar Khayyam was named in his honour in 1970, as was
the minor planet 3095 Omarkhayyam discovered
by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1980.
The statue of Khayyam in United Nations Office in
Vienna
as a part of Persian Scholars
Pavilion donated by Iran.
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