The Wine of Wisdom

The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam

Mehdi Aminrazavi

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781780744742
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

The intoxicating message of Khayyam's famous Ruba'iyyat created an image of exotic Orientalism in the West but, as author Mehdi Aminrazavi reveals, Khayyam's achievements went far beyond the intoxicating message within these verses. Philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and mystic – his many different identities are examined here in detail, creating a coherent picture of this complex and often misunderstood figure.

1

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 Fatḥ Omar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyam, born in the district of Shādyakh of the old city of Nayshābūr in the province of Khūrāsān in the Eastern part of Iran sometime around 439 AH/1048 CE,² and he died there between 515/520 and 1124/1129. 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 515/1124,³ but most contemporary scholars seem to think that 517/1126 is a more likely date. Some have reported the place of his birth to have been Isterābād and others, Lawkar; but Bayhaqī, his contemporary biographer who actually met him, states that his forefathers all came from Nayshābūr.⁴

Student years and teachers

The title “Khayyam” – meaning “tent maker” – in all likelihood was inherited from his father, Ibrāhīm, 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.

Raḥīm 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-Fatḥ” (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, Ibrāhīm asked the Imām of the Mosque, Mawlānā Qāḍī Muḥammad, 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 Qāḍī Muḥammad 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 Qāḍī 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 Qāḍī Muḥammad could teach him. The teacher then asked Omar to continue his studies with a different master,⁶ Khāwjah Abu’l-Ḥasan al-Anbārī. 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 (Majisṭā). As is indicated in the Tatimmah ṣiwān al-ḥikmah, “Abu’l-Ḥasan al-Anbārī al-Ḥakīm: Despite his knowledge of discursive sciences, he was learned in geometry and the philosopher (ḥakīm) 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 Khāwjah. Soon Omar was ready to study with the well-known master, Imām Muwaffaq Nayshābūrī, 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 Imām 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 Muḥammad Manṣūr, under whose direction he became familiar with the writings of Avicenna, particularly the Ishārāt, 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, On Being and Obligation, when he was in Iṣfahān in response to a series of questions that ‘Abū Naṣr ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Nasawī, 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 (ḥakīms), Shaykh al-Ra’is, Abū ‘Alī Ḥusayīn ibn ‘Abdallāh Bukhārī [Ibn Sīnā], 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 Bahmanyār, the famous pupil of Avicenna. Except for a brief reference by Niẓāmī ‘Aruḍī Samarqandī, who tells us that Avicenna went to Nayshābūr, 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 the Ishārāt just hours before he died. This is also indicated in his spirited conversation with ‘Alā’ al-Dawlah, the governor of Ray,¹⁰ who was a follower of Abu’l Barakāt al-Baghdādī. ‘Alā’ al-Dawlah asked Khayyam what he thought about Abu’l Barakāt’s criticisms of Avicenna, to which he replied, “Abu’l Barakāt 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.¹¹

It is entirely possible that he studied with Bahmanyār, or at least met him in Isfahān during his stay in that city. There are several references to this possibility. Ṣafadī in al-wafī bi’l-wafiyāt¹² and Qoṭb al-Dīn Maḥmūd Shirāzī in Tuḥfat al-shāhiyyah,¹³ mention that Khayyam and Lawkarī, a colleague and classmate of Khayyam, were students of Bahmanyār.

The other major figure with whom Omar may have studied was the famous theologian and teacher of Abū Ḥāmid Ghazzālī, Imām al-Ḥaramayīn Juwaynī who taught in Nayshābūr. If this were true, Khayyam would have been a fellow classmate of Ghazzālī, a point none of his biographers have mentioned. However, given Juwaynī’s fame, it is hard to imagine that Khayyam would not have benefited from him and his scholarly circle in Nayshābūr.

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 “Ḥujjat al-Ḥaqq” (The Evidence of Truth), “Ghiyāth al-Dīn” (The Patron of Faith) and “Imām,” 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 Ghazzālī asked Khayyam a question concerning geometry in the morning, and Khayyam elaborated on the question until Ghazzālī reminded him that it was time for the noon prayer. Khayyam did not participate much in the scholarly debates and circles of Nayshābūr, 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 Iṣfahān. 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 Nayshābūr, 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 Aḥmad al-Ma‘murī al-Bayhaqī, Muḥammad Ilāqī, Imām Muḥammad Baghdādī, (who also became his son-in-law), Niẓāmī ‘Aruḍī Samarqandī (who benefited from Khayyam’s presence though he was not trained by him), Abu’l-Ma‘ālī ‘Abdallāh ibn Muḥammad al-Miyānjī (also known as ‘Ayn al-Qoḍāt Hamadānī),¹⁴ and Muḥammad Hijāzī Qā’nī. Also, one can mention ‘Abd al-Rafi‘ Hirawī who may have been the author of Norūz nāmah, a treatise usually attributed to Khayyam himself. From the figures mentioned above who may have studied with Khayyam, ‘Ayn al-Qoḍāt Hamadānī is the least likely of them.¹⁵ There are no references made to either figure in their works. Hamid Dabashi in his major work on ‘Ayn al-Qoḍāt Ha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Khayyam’s Life and Works
• 2. Reconstructing a Tarnished Image: Omar Khayyam According to his Contemporaries and Biographers
• 3. Khayyam within the Intellectual Context of his Time
• 4. The Ruba‘iyyat
• 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