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INTRODUCTION.

I.

OMAR BIN IBRAHIM AL KHAYYÁM was a native of Nishapúr, one of the principal cities of Khorásan. According to the preface of the Calcutta MS., he died in 517 A.H., during the reign of Sultan Sanjar. The date of his birth is nowhere mentioned, but he was contemporary with Nizám ul Mulk, the celebrated Wazir of the Seljuk kings Alp Arslan and Malik Shah; and Nizám ul Mulk has left the following notice of him in his "Testament": 1

"Imám Muaffik of Nishapúr-(may Allah rest his soul!)—was one of the most learned men in Khorasan, and was held in the highest honour and reverence. He lived to over eighty-five years of age, and it was the common opinion that all youths who read the Koran and learned the Traditions under him, would attain to wealth and fortune. For this cause my father sent me, in charge of the lawyer 'Abd us Samad, from Tús to Nishapúr, in order that I might apply myself to study and discipline in the school of that eminent person. He on his

1 This passage is preserved in Mirkhond's "History of the Assassins,” in Khondemir's "Habib us Siyar," and in the "Dabistán." It is given in full in "Notices et Extraits des MSS.," ix. 143.

part regarded me with affection, and I for mine showed such attachment and devotion to his service that I continued with him for the space of four years.

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lately joined his class Hakim Omar Khayyám, and that miscreant Hasan ibn Sabah, both of whom were of the same age as myself, and equally remarkable for excellence of intelligence and power of intellect. We became friends, and when we went out from the Imám's class we used to repeat to one another the lesson we had just heard. One day that miscreant Hasan said to us, 'It is the general opinion that the disciples of Imám Muaffik attain to fortune, and no doubt one of us will do so, even though all may not. What agreement or compact is there now between us?' I said, 'Whatever you please.' He answered, 'Whichever of us may attain to fortune shall share it with the others, and not engross it himself.' We agreed to these terms, and a compact was made accordingly. Time passed on. I went from Khorasan to Máwar ul Nahr and Ghazní and Kábul, and on my return I was preferred to the post of Wazir to Sultan Alp Arslan (455 A.H.). At that time Hakím Omar Khayyám came to me, and in regard to him I carried out all the requirements of the compact and the obligations of my engagement. On his arrival I received him with all honour and distinction, and afterwards I said to him, 'A man of your ability ought to be a servant of the Sultan, and since according to our agreement while we were with Imám Muaffik, I am bound to share my fortune with you, I will recount your merits to the Sultan, and will so impress on his mind your

abilities and attainments, that you shall be preferred to a post of trust like mine.’ But Omar replied (after compliments), 'The greatest favour you can do me is to let me live in retirement, where, under your protection, I may occupy myself in amassing the riches of learning and in praying for your long life.' And to this language he steadfastly adhered. When I perceived that he spoke in sincerity, and not out of mere etiquette, I assigned him a yearly stipend of 1200 gold miscals, payable from the Nishapúr treasury. He then went back to Nishapúr, and applied himself to the study of the sciences, especially astronomy, in which he afterwards attained a high degree of accomplishment. Later on, in the reign of Sultan Malik Shah (465 to 485 A.H.), he came to Merv, in the height of his philosophical repute, and the Sultan conferred many favours upon him, and raised him to the highest posts attainable by men of science."

Nizám ul Mulk goes on to recount the subsequent history of Hasan Sabah-how by his aid Hasan obtained a post at court, and repaid his kindness by intriguing against him—how Hasan then fled from Khorásan, and joined the infamous sect of Ismailians or Assassins, and afterwards became their chief under the name of Shaikh ul Jabal, or Old Man of the Mountain.

This narrative reads so circumstantially that one can hardly do otherwise than accept it, but in that case Nizám ul Mulk's birth must be placed at least twenty years later than 408,1 the date given both by Ibn Khallikán and Abul Faraj; or else the accepted dates of

1 See Vuller's "Geschichte der Seldschuken," p. 107, note.

Omar's and Hasan's deaths (517 and 518 A.H.) must be abandoned for others at least twenty years earlier.

Omar's appointment at Merv mentioned by Nizám ul Mulk was, as we learn from Abul Feda, that of Astronomer Royal. Whilst holding this office, Omar compiled some astronomical tables, of which mention is made by Haji Khalfa, and in collaboration with seven other astronomers effected a reform of the old Persian Calendar, somewhat similar to the reform of the Julian Calendar made under the auspices of Pope Gregory XIII. five centuries afterwards. The object of both reforms was to make the civil year coincide more exactly with the cycle of the seasons, and in both instances this object was sought to be accomplished by an improved system of intercalation. M. Reinaud, the editor of Abul Feda's Geography, says that some authorities even prefer Omar's system to that adopted by Pope Gregory.1 The amended reckoning ran from the 10th Ramazan, 471 A.H., and was called Tarikh i Jaláli, after the reigning monarch, Sultan Jalaluddin Malik Sháh.

Omar was also highly distinguished as a mathematician. A work of his on Algebra has been edited and translated by M. Woepke of Bonn, and another, "On the Difficulties of Euclid's Definitions," is preserved in the Leyden Library. His work on Algebra enjoyed a high reputation for several centuries. Ibn Khaldun refers to it in his Prolegomena, and Haji Khalfa quotes the commencement. M. Woepke praises him for his power of generalisation and his rigorously systematic procedure.

1 See Reinaud, "Geographie d'Abulfeda," Prolegomena, p. ci.

In his preface M. Woepke quotes from a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale an abridgment of a notice of Omar in Shahrastáni's Tarikh ul Hukama. As Shahrastáni was born in 479 A.H., and during some part of his life resided at Nishapúr,1 he is a very good authority for the facts recorded by him, though it is evident he was no friend to Omar. The passage is as follows:—

"Omar al Khayyám, Imám of Khorasan, and the greatest scholar of his time, was versed in all the learning of the Greeks. He was wont to exhort men to seek the One Author of all by purifying the bodily actions in order to the sanctification of the soul. He also used to recommend the study of Politics as laid down in Greek authors. The later Sufis have caught at the apparent sense of parts of his poems and accommodated them to their own canon, making them a subject of discussion in their assemblies and conventicles, but the esoteric sense consists in axioms of natural religion and principles of universal obligation. When the men of his time anathematised his doctrines, and drew forth his opinions from the concealment in which he had veiled them, he went in fear of his life, and placed some check on the sallies of his tongue and his pen. He made the pilgrimage, but it was from accident rather than piety, still betraying his unorthodox views. On his arrival at Baghdad the men who prosecuted the same ancient studies as he flocked to meet him, but he shut the door in their faces, as one who had renounced those studies and cultivated them no

1 See Haarbrücher's translation of the "Kitab al Milal wan' Nihal," Preface, p. xi.

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