Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyám (May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131, in Persian عمر خیام), was born in Nishapur, Persia (Iran). He was originally named Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi Khayyámi (غياث الدين ابو الفتح عمر بن ابراهيم خيام نيشابوري). Khayyám (خیام) is an Arabic loanword means "tentmaker".

Omar Khayyam the student

In his youth, Omar Khayyam studied under Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur, who was considered one of the greatest teachers of the Khorassan region. Two other exceptional students began studying under the same teacher at about the same time. One of these was Nizam-ul-Mulk, who went on to become the Vizier to two rulers of the Persian Empire. The other was Hassan-i-Sabah, who went on to become the leader of the Hashshashin.

It was commonly believed that any young man who studied under that emminent Imam would attain honor and happiness. These three students, who became friends, pledged to each other that which ever of them were to receive fortune would share it equally with the other two. After Nizam-ul-Mulk became Visier, Hassan-i-Sabah and Omar Khayyam each went to him, and asked to share in his good fortune.

Hassan-i-Sabah demanded and was granted a place in the government, but he was ambitious, and was eventually removed from power after he participated in an unsuccessful effort to overthrow his benefactor the Visier. Many years later, he rose to become head of the Hashshashin.

Omar Khayyam was much more modest in his request, not asking for any office, but just a place to live, study science and pray. He was granted a yearly pension of 1200 mithkals of gold from the treasury of Naishapur. He lived on this pension for the rest of his life.

Omar Khayyám the mathematician

He was famous during his lifetime as a mathematician, well known for inventing the method of solving cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle. Although his approach at achieving this had earlier been attempted by Menaechmus and others, Khayyám provided a generalization extending it to all cubics. In addition he discovered the binomial expansion, and authored criticisms of Euclid's theories of parallels which made their way to England, where they contributed to the eventual development of non-Euclidean geometry.

Omar Khayyám the astronomer

Omar Khayyám was famous as an astronomer. In 1073, the Malik-Shah, ruler of Isfahan, invited Khayyám to build and work with an observatory, along with various other distinguished scientists. Eventually, Khayyám very accurately (correct to six decimal places) measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days.

He also calculated how to correct the Persian calendar. On March 15, 1079, Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi (1072-1092) put Omar's corrected calendar into effect, as in Europe Julius Caesar had done in 46 B.C. with the corrections of Sosigenes, and as Pope Gregory XIII would do in February 1552 with Aloysius Lilius' corrected calendar (although Britain would not switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1751, and Russia would not switch until 1918).

He was famous in Persian and Islamic world for his astronomical observations. He built a (now lost) map of stars in the sky.

Omar Khayyám and Islam

The philosophy of Omar Khayyám was quite different from official Islamic dogmas. It is not clear whether he believed in the existence of God or not, but he objected to the notion that every particular event and phenomenon was the result of divine intervention; nor did he believe in any Judgment Day or rewards and punishments after life. Instead he supported the view that laws of nature explained all phenomena of observed life. Religious officials asked him many times to explain his different views about Islam. Khayyám eventually was obliged to make a hajj [pilgrimage] to Mecca in order to prove he was a faithful follower of the religion.

Omar Khayyam the Skeptic

(These poems were translated by Edward Marlborough FitzGerald)

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted - "Open then the Door!
You know how little time we have to stay,
And once departed, may return no more."

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And thoat after a TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your reward is neither Here nor There!"

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their mouths are stopt with Dust.

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out of the same Door as in I went.

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd -
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to It for help - for It
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.

Omar Khayyam the writer and poet

Omar Khayyám is famous today not only for his scientific accomplishments, but for his literary works. He is believed to have written about a thousand four-line verses. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the English translations by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883).

Other people have also published translations of some of the rubáiyát (rubáiyát means "quatrains"), but Fitzgerald's are the best known. Translations also exist in languages other than English.

Miscellaneous

Omar's life is dramatized in the 1957 film Omar Khayyam starring Cornel Wilde, Debra Page, Raymond Massey, Michael Rennie, and John Derek.
Omar Khayyám appears as a comedic sidekick in the film Son of Sinbad. He is portrayed by Vincent Price and parts of his poems are distributed throughout his dialogue.
Appears as major character in the novel Samarcand by Amin Maalouf.
Most recently, his life was dramatized by the Iranian-American director Kayvan Mashayekh in "The Keeper: the Legend of Omar Khayaam" playing in independent theaters since June 2005.
A lunar crater Omar Khayyam was named after him in 1970.
An asteroid 3095 Omarkhayyam was named after him in 1980.
Salman Rushdie's novel Shame makes reference to Omar Khayyam with a character by the same name.

References

E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-700-70406-X
Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K

External links

Works by Omar Khayyám at Project Gutenberg
The Rubaiyat
Os Rubaiyat de Omar Khayyam
On Omar's solutions to cubic equations
Khayyam, Umar. A biography by Professor Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Omar Khayyam", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
200 selected original Rubaiyat in Persian

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