Omar Khayyam

Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī[1][3]

Hakim
(18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar
Omar Khayyam
Khayyam (Persian: ‫)عمر خّیام‬,[a] was a Persian polymath, known
for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and ‫عمر خّیام‬
poetry.[4]: 94 He was born in Nishapur, the initial capital of the Born 18 May 1048[1][2]
Seljuk Empire, and lived during the period of the Seljuk dynasty, Nishapur, Khorasan,
around the time of the First Crusade. Persia
Died 4 December 1131
As a mathematician, he is most notable for his work on the (aged 83)[1][2]
classification and solution of cubic equations, where he provided a Nishapur, Khorasan,
geometric formulation based on the intersection of conics.[5] He Persia
also contributed to a deeper understanding of Euclid's parallel
Academic background
axiom.[6]: 284 As an astronomer, he calculated the duration of the
solar year with remarkable precision and accuracy, and designed Influences Avicenna,
the Jalali calendar, a solar calendar with a very precise 33-year al-Khwārizmī, Euclid,
intercalation cycle[7]: 659 [b] which provided the basis for the Apollonius of Perge
Persian calendar that is still in use after nearly a millennium. Academic work
Main Mathematics,
There is a tradition of attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam, written
interests Astronomy,
in the form of quatrains (rubāʿiyāt ‫)رباعیات‬. This poetry became
Persian philosophy,
widely known to the English-reading world in a translation by
Persian poetry
Edward FitzGerald (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1859), which
enjoyed great success in the Orientalism of the fin de siècle. Influenced Tusi, Al-Khazini,
Nizami Aruzi of
Samarcand,
Life Hafez,
Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur—a metropolis in Khorasan Sadegh Hedayat,
province, of Persian stock, in 1048.[8][9][10][11][12] In medieval André Gide,
Persian texts he is usually simply called Omar Khayyam.[7]: 658 [c] John Wallis, Saccheri,
Although open to doubt, it has often been assumed that his Edward FitzGerald,
forebears followed the trade of tent-making, since Khayyam means Maurice Bouchor,
'tent-maker' in Arabic.[15]: 30 The historian Bayhaqi, who was Henri Cazalis,
personally acquainted with Khayyam, provides the full details of Jean Chapelain,
his horoscope: "he was Gemini, the sun and Mercury being in the Amin Maalouf
ascendant[...]".[16]: 471 [17]: 172–175, no. 66 This was used by
modern scholars to establish his date of birth as 18 May 1048.[7]: 658

Khayyam's boyhood was spent in Nishapur,[7]: 659 a leading metropolis under the Great Seljuq
Empire,[18]: 15 [19] which had earlier been a major center of the Zoroastrian religion.[8]: 68 His full name, as
it appears in Arabic sources, was Abu’l Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam.[d] 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, and Khayyam developed a firm friendship

Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in
Nishapur, Iran. Some of his rubáiyáts
are used as calligraphic (taliq script)
decoration on the exterior body of his
mausoleum.
with him through the years.[8]: 20 Khayyam might have met and
studied with Bahmanyar, a disciple of Avicenna.[8]: 20–21 After
studying science, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy at
Nishapur, about the year 1068 he traveled 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.[20]: 4330b 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
[Khayyam] beside him on his throne".[15]: 34 [8]: 47

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 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 probably
began with the opening of the observatory in 1074 and ended in 1079,[8]: 28–29 when Omar Khayyam and
his colleagues concluded their measurements of the length of the year, reporting it as 365.24219858156
days.[5] Given that the length of the year is changing in the sixth decimal place over a person's lifetime, this
is outstandingly accurate. For comparison, the length of the year at the end of the 19th century was
365.242196 days, while today it is 365.242190 days.

After the death of Malik-Shah and his vizier (murdered, it is thought, by the Ismaili order of Assassins),
Khayyam fell from favor 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 (including possible
sympathy or adherence to Zoroastrianism) levelled at him by a hostile clergy.[8]: 29 [8]: 29 [21] He was then
invited by the new Sultan Sanjar to Marv, possibly to work as a court astrologer.[1] 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.[22]: 99

Omar Khayyam died at the age of 83 in his hometown of Nishapur on 4 December 1131, and he is buried
in what is now the Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam. One of his disciples Nizami Aruzi relates the story that
sometime during 1112–3 Khayyam was in Balkh in the company of 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".[15]: 36 [19] 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 tombstone was hidden beneath
them.[15]: 37

Mathematics
Khayyam was famous during his life as a mathematician. His surviving mathematical works include (i)
Commentary on the Difficulties Concerning the Postulates of Euclid's Elements (Risāla fī Sharḥ mā Ashkal
min Muṣādarāt Kitāb Uqlīdis), completed in December 1077,[11]: 832a [23][24]: § 1 [25]: 324b (ii) Treatise 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,[11]: 831b [24]: § 2 and (iii) Treatise on Algebra (Risālah fi al-Jabr wa'l-
Muqābala),[11]: 831b–832a [24]: § 3 most likely completed in 1079.[6]: 281 He furthermore wrote a treatise on
the binomial theorem and extracting the nth root of natural numbers, which has been
lost.[8]: 197 [11]: 832a [24]: § 4 [25]: 325b–326b

Theory of parallels
Part of Khayyam's Commentary on the Difficulties Concerning the Postulates of Euclid's Elements deals
with the parallel axiom.[6]: 282 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.[24]: § 1 [25]: 326b–327b [26]: 75
Drawing upon Aristotle's views, he rejects the usage of movement in geometry and therefore dismisses the
different attempt by Ibn al-Haytham.[27]: 64–65 [28]: 270 [e] Unsatisfied with the failure of mathematicians to
prove Euclid's statement from his other postulates, Khayyam tried to connect the axiom with the Fourth
Postulate, which states that all right angles are equal to one another.[6]: 282

Khayyam was the first to consider the three distinct cases of acute, obtuse, and right angle for the summit
angles of a Khayyam-Saccheri quadrilateral.[6]: 283 After proving a number of theorems about them, he
showed that Postulate V follows from the right angle hypothesis, and refuted the obtuse and acute cases as
self-contradictory.[28]: 270 [29]: 133 His 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 acute, obtuse, and right angles 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.[30]

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 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."[8]: 195 [22]: 104 [31]

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.[32] 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.
Youschkevitch and Rosenfeld argue that "by placing irrational quantities and numbers on the same
operational scale, [Khayyam] began a true revolution in the doctrine
of number." [25]: 327b 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."[6]: 284

Geometric algebra
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.[33]: 248 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
"Cubic equation and intersection of
perpendicular diameters of the circle form a specific ratio. His
conic sections" the first page of a
solution, in turn, employed several curve constructions that led to two-chaptered manuscript kept in
equations containing cubic and quadratic terms.[33]: 248 Tehran University.

Solution of cubic equations

Khayyam seems to have been the first to conceive a general theory
of cubic equations,[5][f] and the first to geometrically solve every
type of cubic equation, so far as positive roots are concerned.[34]
The Treatise on Algebra contains his work on cubic
equations.[35]: 9 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.[24]: § 3

Khayyam produced an exhaustive list of all possible equations

involving lines, squares, and cubes.[36]: 43 He considered three Omar Khayyam's construction of a
binomial equations, nine trinomial equations, and seven tetranomial solution to the cubic x3 + 2x =
equations. [6]: 281 For the first and second degree polynomials, he 2x2 + 2. The intersection point
provided numerical solutions by geometric construction. He produced by the circle and the
concluded that there are fourteen different types of cubics that hyperbola determine the desired
cannot be reduced to an equation of a lesser segment.
degree.[11]: 831b [25]: 328a [37]: 49 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.[6]: 281 [38]: 157 The prerequisite lemmas for Khayyam's geometrical proof include Euclid VI,
Prop 13, and Apollonius II, Prop 12.[38]: 155 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.[39]: 141 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".[38]: 158 This task remained open until the sixteenth century, where an algebraic solution of the cubic
equation was found in its generality by Cardano, Del Ferro, and Tartaglia in Renaissance Italy.[6]: 282
In effect, Khayyam's work is an effort to unify algebra and
geometry.[41]: 241 This particular geometric solution of cubic equations Whoever thinks algebra is a
was further investigated by M. Hachtroudi and extended to solving trick in obtaining unknowns
fourth-degree equations.[42] Although similar methods had appeared has thought it in vain. No
sporadically since Menaechmus, and further developed by the 10th- attention should be paid to
century mathematician Abu al-Jud,[43]: 29 [44]: 110 Khayyam's work can the fact that algebra and
be considered the first systematic study and the first exact method of geometry are different in
solving cubic equations.[45]: 92 The mathematician Woepcke (1851) appearance. Algebras are
who offered translations of Khayyam's algebra into French praised him geometric facts which are
for his "power of generalization and his rigorously systematic proved by propositions five
procedure."[46]: 10 and six of Book two of
Elements.

Binomial theorem and extraction of roots —Omar Khayyam[40]

In his algebraic treatise, Khayyam alludes to a book he had written on
the extraction of the th root of natural numbers using a law he
had discovered which did not depend on geometric figures.[39]
This book was most likely titled the Difficulties of Arithmetic From the Indians one has
methods for obtaining square and
(Mushkilāt al-Ḥisāb),[11]: 832a [24]: § 4 and is not extant.[25]: 325b
Based on the context, some historians of mathematics such as D. J. cube roots, methods based on
Struik, believe that Omar must have known the formula for the knowledge of individual cases –
expansion of the binomial , where n is a positive namely the knowledge of the
squares of the nine digits 12 , 22 ,
integer.[6]: 282 The case of power 2 is explicitly stated in Euclid's
32 (etc.) and their respective
elements and the case of at most power 3 had been established by
Indian mathematicians. Khayyam was the mathematician who products, i.e. 2 × 3 etc. We have
noticed the importance of a general binomial theorem. The written a treatise on the proof of
the validity of those methods and
argument supporting the claim that Khayyam had a general
that they satisfy the conditions. In
binomial theorem is based on his ability to extract roots.[48] One of
addition we have increased their
Khayyam's predecessors, al-Karaji, had already discovered the
types, namely in the form of the
triangular arrangement of the coefficients of binomial expansions
determination of the fourth, fifth,
that Europeans later came to know as Pascal's triangle;[49]: 60
sixth roots up to any desired
Khayyam popularized this triangular array in Iran, so that it is now
degree. No one preceded us in
known as Omar Khayyam's triangle.[39]
this and those proofs are purely
arithmetic, founded on the
Astronomy arithmetic of The Elements.
In 1074–5, Omar Khayyam was commissioned by Sultan Malik-
Shah to build an observatory at Isfahan and reform the Persian —Omar Khayyam, Treatise on
calendar. There was a panel of eight scholars working under the Algebra[47]
direction of Khayyam to make large-scale astronomical
observations and revise the astronomical tables.[39]: 141
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.[50]: 10–11 [51] The resultant calendar was named in Malik-Shah's honor
as the Jalālī calendar, and was inaugurated on 15 March 1079.[52]: 269 The observatory itself was disused
after the death of Malik-Shah in 1092.[7]: 659
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.[53]: 13 The
calendar remained in use across Greater Iran from the Representation of the intercalation scheme of the
11th to the 20th centuries. In 1911 the Jalali calendar 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,[7]: 659 with an error of one day accumulating over 5,000 years, compared
to one day every 3,330 years in the Gregorian calendar.[8]: 200 Moritz Cantor considered it the most perfect
calendar ever devised.[22]: 101

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."[46]: 11
While working for Sultan Sanjar as an astrologer he was asked to predict the weather – a job that he
apparently did not do well.[8]: 30 George Saliba explains that the term ‘ilm al-nujūm, used in various
sources in which references to Khayyam'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."[54]: 224

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.[8]: 198

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.[8]: 198

Poetry
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).[8]: 49 [55]: 35 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
(c. 1160), he quotes one of his poems (corresponding to quatrain Rendition of a ruba'i from the
LXII of FitzGerald's first edition). Daya in his writings (Mirṣād Bodleian manuscript, rendered in
al-‘Ibad, c. 1230) quotes two quatrains, one of which is the same as Shekasteh calligraphy.
the one already reported by Razi. An additional quatrain is quoted
by the historian Juvayni (Tarikh-i Jahangushay, c. 1226–
1283).[55]: 36–37 [8]: 92 In 1340 Jajarmi includes thirteen quatrains of Khayyam in his work containing an
anthology of the works of famous Persian poets (Mu’nis al-ahrār), two of which have hitherto been known
from the older sources.[56]: 434 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.

There are occasional quotes of verses attributed to Khayyam in

texts attributed to authors of the 13th and 14th centuries, but these
are of doubtful authenticity, so that skeptical scholars point out that
the entire tradition may be pseudepigraphic.[55]: 11 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 presents a bibliography of the manuscript tradition,
concluding pessimistically that the situation has not changed Inscription of a poem written by
significantly since Schaeder's time.[57]:307 (https://books.google.com/b Omar Khayyam at Morića Han in
ooks?id=2e55wuzPc3IC&pg=PA307)
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Five of the quatrains later attributed to Omar Khayyam 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 does not 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.[57]:305 (https://books.google.com/books?id=2e55wuzPc3IC&pg=PA305) 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".[7]: 663

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, c. 1201–1211), Qifti (Tārikh al-
hukamā, 1255), and Hamdallah Mustawfi (Tarikh-i guzida, 1339).[8]: 39

Boyle emphasized that there are a number of other Persian scholars who occasionally wrote quatrains,
including Avicenna, Ghazali, and Tusi. They conclude that it is also possible that for Khayyam poetry was
an 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".[7]: 662
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,[58] and many more have been published since.[57]:312 (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=2e55wuzPc3IC&pg=PA312)

Philosophy
Khayyam considered himself intellectually to be a student of Avicenna.[2]: 474 According to Al-Bayhaqi, he
was reading the metaphysics in Avicenna's the Book of Healing before he died.[7]: 661 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.[2]: 475
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).

Khayyam himself once said:[59]: 431

We are the victims of an age when men of science are discredited, and only a few remain who are
capable of engaging in scientific research. Our philosophers spend all their time in mixing true
with false and are interested in nothing but outward show; such little learning as they have they
extend on material ends. When they see a man sincere and unremitting in his search for the truth,
one who will have nothing to do with falsehood and pretence, they mock and despise him.

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.[8]: 6 [60] This view is taken
by Iranologists such as Arthur Christensen, Hans Heinrich Schaeder, John Andrew Boyle, Edward Denison
Ross,[61]: 365 Edward Henry Whinfield[46]: 40 and George Sarton.[18]: 18 Conversely, the Khayyamic
quatrains have also been described as mystical Sufi poetry.[62] In addition to his Persian quatrains, J. C. E.
Bowen 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."[63]: 69 Edward FitzGerald emphasized the religious skepticism he found in
Khayyam.[64] In his preface to the Rubáiyát he claimed that he "was hated and dreaded by the Sufis",[65]
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."[66]: 62 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.[67] 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."[68]: 138 Omar Khayyam's poetry
has been cited in the context of New Atheism, such as in The Portable Atheist by Christopher
Hitchens.[69]: 7

Al-Qifti (c. 1172–1248) appears to confirm this view of Khayyam's philosophy.[7]: 663 In his work The
History of Learned Men he reports that Khayyam's poems were only outwardly in the Sufi style, but were
written with an anti-religious agenda.[61]: 365 He also mentions that he was at one point indicted for impiety,
but went on a pilgrimage to prove he was pious.[8]: 29 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.[61]: 355 Khayyam on the Koran (quote 84):[70]

The Koran! well, come put me to the test, Lovely old book in hideous error drest, Believe me, I
can quote the Koran too, The unbeliever knows his Koran best. And do you think that unto such
as you, A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew, God gave the Secret, and denied it me? Well,
well, what matters it! believe that too.

Look not above, there is no answer there; Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer; Near is as
near to God as any Far, And Here is just the same deceit as There.[70]

Men talk of heaven,—there is no heaven but here; Men talk of hell,—there is no hell but here;
Men of hereafters talk, and future lives, O love, there is no other life—but here.[70]

An account of him, written in the thirteenth century, shows him as "versed in all the wisdom of the Greeks,"
and as wont to insist on the necessity of studying science on Greek lines. Of his prose works, two, which
were stand authority, dealt respectively with precious stones and climatology. Beyond question the poet-
astronomer was undevout; and his astronomy doubtless helped to make him so. One contemporary writes:
"I did not observe that he had any great belief in astrological predictions; nor have I seen or heard of any of
the great (scientists) who had such belief. He gave his adherence to no religious sect. Agnosticism, not faith,
is the keynote of his works. Among the sects he saw everywhere strife and hatred in which he could have
no part...."[71]: 263, vol. 1

Persian novelist Sadegh Hedayat says Khayyám from "his youth to his death remained a materialist,
pessimist, agnostic. Khayyam looked at all religions questions with a skeptical eye", continues Hedayat,
"and hated the fanaticism, narrow-mindedness, and the spirit of vengeance of the mullas, the so-called
religious scholars."[72]: 13

In the context of a piece entitled On the Knowledge of the Principles of Existence, Khayyam endorses the
Sufi path.[8]: 8 Csillik suggests the possibility that Omar Khayyam could see in Sufism an ally against
orthodox religiosity.[73]: 75 Other commentators do not accept that Khayyam'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 Khayyam'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.[74] The view of Omar Khayyam as a Sufi was defended by Bjerregaard,[75]: 3 Idries
Shah,[76]: 165–166 and Dougan who attributes the reputation of hedonism to the failings of FitzGerald's
translation, arguing that Khayyam's poetry is to be understood as "deeply esoteric".[77] On the other hand,
Iranian experts such as Mohammad Ali Foroughi and Mojtaba Minovi rejected the hypothesis that Omar
Khayyam was a Sufi.[63]: 72 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 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.".[8]: 128 Furthermore, Boyle 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),[8]: 58 Najm al-Din Daya who described Omar Khayyam as "an
unhappy philosopher, atheist, and materialist",[63]: 71 and Attar who regarded him not as a fellow-mystic but
a free-thinking scientist who awaited punishments hereafter.[7]: 663–664

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.[78]: Ch. 9, 165–183 The prose
works believed to be Khayyam's are written in the Peripatetic style and are explicitly theistic, dealing with
subjects such as the existence of God and theodicy.[8]: 160 As noted by Bowen these works indicate his
involvement in the problems of metaphysics rather than in the subtleties of Sufism.[63]: 71 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).[8] 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.[8]: 48 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.[17]: 174

On the basis of all the existing textual and biographical evidence, the question remains somewhat
open,[8]: 11 and as a result Khayyam has received sharply conflicting appreciations and criticisms.[61]: 350

Reception
The various biographical extracts referring to Omar Khayyam describe him as unequalled in scientific
knowledge and achievement during his time.[g] Many called him by the epithet King of the Wise (Arabic:
‫)ملك الحکماء‬.[56]: 436 [39]: 141 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".[61]: 352
Al-Qifti (d. 1248), even though disagreeing with his views, concedes he was "unrivalled in his knowledge
of natural philosophy and astronomy".[61]: 355 Despite being hailed as a poet by a number of biographers,
according to Richard N. Frye "it is still possible to argue that Khayyam's status as a poet of the first rank is a
comparatively late development."[7]: 663

Thomas Hyde was the first European to call attention to Khayyam and to translate one of his quatrains into
Latin (Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque magorum, 1700).[79]: 525 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".[80]: 202 Khayyam's poems have been
translated into many languages; many of the more recent ones are more
literal than that of FitzGerald.[81]

FitzGerald's translation was a factor in rekindling interest in Khayyam as

a poet even in his native Iran.[82]: 55–72 Sadegh Hedayat in his Songs of
Khayyam (Taranehha-ye Khayyam, 1934) reintroduced Khayyam'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 Stamp of Albania in 1997,
was erected in Laleh Park, Tehran in the 1960s, and a bust by the same entitled "850th birth anniversary
sculptor was placed near Khayyam's mausoleum in Nishapur. In 2009, of Omar Khayyam"
the state of Iran donated a pavilion to the United Nations Office in
Vienna, inaugurated at Vienna International Center.[83] In 2016, three
statues of Khayyam were unveiled: one at the University of Oklahoma, one in Nishapur and one in
Florence, Italy.[84] Over 150 composers have used the Rubaiyat as their source of inspiration. The earliest
such composer was Liza Lehmann.[85]

FitzGerald rendered Khayyam'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.[86]: 13

The diverse talents and intellectual pursuits of Khayyam captivated many Ottoman and Turkish writers
throughout history.[87] Scholars often viewed Khayyam as a means to enhance their own poetic prowess
and intellectual depth, drawing inspiration and recognition from his writings.[88] For many Muslim
reformers, Khayam's verses provided a counterpoint to the conservative norms prevalent in Islamic
societies, allowing room for independent thought and a libertine lifestyle.[88] Figures like Abdullah Cevdet,
Rıza Tevfik, and Yahya Kemal utilized Khayyam's themes to justify their progressive ideologies or to
celebrate liberal aspects of their lives, portraying him as a cultural, political, and intellectual role model who
demonstrated Islam's compatibility with modern conventions.[88] Similarly, Turkish leftist poets and
intellectuals, including Nâzım Hikmet, Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, A. Kadir, and Gökçe, appropriated Khayyam
to champion their socialist worldview, imbuing his voice with a humanistic tone in the vernacular.[88]
Khayyam's resurgence in spoken Turkish since the 1980s has transformed him into a poet of the people,
with numerous books and translations revitalizing his historical significance.[88] Conversely, scholars like
Dāniş, Tevfik, and Gölpınarlı advocated for source criticism and the identification of authentic quatrains to
discern the genuine Khayyam amidst historical perceptions of his sociocultural image.[88]

The Moving Finger quatrain

The quatrain by Omar Khayyam known as "The Moving Finger",
in the form of its translation by the English poet Edward Fitzgerald
is one of the most popular quatrains in the Anglosphere.[89] It reads:

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,

Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, A line of English translation of ''The
Moving Finger'' quatrain. Persian
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.[90][h] Rubiyats of Omar Khayyam on one
the faculty buildings of Leiden
University
The title of the novel The Moving Finger written by Agatha Christie
and published in 1942 was inspired by this quatrain of the
translation of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald.[89] Martin Luther King also cites this
quatrain of Omar Khayyam in one of his speeches, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence":[89][91]

“We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea
and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are
written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’ There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our
vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: ‘The moving finger writes, and having writ
moves on.’”

In one of his apologetic speeches about the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of
the US, also cites this quatrain.[89][92]

Other popular culture references

In 1934 Harold Lamb published a historical novel Omar Khayyam. The French-Lebanese writer Amin
Maalouf based the first half of his historical fiction novel Samarkand on Khayyam's life and the creation of
his Rubaiyat. The sculptor Eduardo Chillida produced four massive iron pieces titled Mesa de Omar
Khayyam (Omar Khayyam's Table) in the 1980s.[93][94]

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.[95]
Google has released two Google Doodles commemorating him. The first was on his 964th birthday on 18
May 2012. The second was on his 971st birthday on 18 May 2019.[96]

Gallery

"A Ruby kindles in the "At the Tomb of Omar The statue of Khayyam in
vine", illustration for Khayyam" by Jay United Nations Office in
FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Hambidge (1911). Vienna as a part of Persian
Omar Khayyam by Scholars Pavilion donated
Adelaide Hanscom Leeson by Iran.
(c. 1905).

Statue of Omar Khayyam Monument to Omar

in Bucharest Khayyam in Ciudad
Universitaria of Madrid

See also
Iran portal

Biography portal

Poetry portal

Astronomy portal
 Mathematics
portal

Nozhat al-Majales

Notable films
Omar Khayyam (1957 film)
The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

Noted Khayyamologists
Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob

Notes
a. [oˈmæɾ xæjˈjɒːm]; /kaɪˈjɑːm, kaɪˈjæm/
b. With an error of one day accumulating over 5,000 years, it was more precise than the
Gregorian calendar of 1582, which has an error of one day every 3,330 years.[8]: 200
c. E.g., in Rashid-al-Din Hamadani,[13]: 409 or in Munis al-ahrar.[14]: 435
d. In e.g., al-Qifti,[8]: 55 or Bayhaqi.[16]: 463 [17]: 172–175, no. 66
e. Katz (1998), p. 270. Excerpt: In some sense, his treatment was better than Ibn al-Haytham's
because he explicitly formulated a new postulate to replace Euclid's rather than have the
latter hidden in a new definition.
f. O'Connor & Robertson (July 1999): However, Khayyam himself seems to have been the first
to conceive a general theory of cubic equations.
g. E.g., by the author of Firdaws al-tawārikh,[61]: 356 author of Tārikh alfī,[61]: 358 and al-
Isfahani.[8]: 49
h. ‫بر لوح نشان بودنی‌ها بوده‌ست‬

‫پیوسته قلم ز نیک و بد فرسوده‌ست‬

‫در روز ازل هر آنچه بایست بداد‬

‫غم خوردن و کوشیدن ما بیهوده‌ست‬

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Further reading
Biegstraaten, Jos (2008). "Omar Khayyam (Impact On Literature And Society In The West)"
(http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khayyam-omar-impact-west). Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Vol. 15. Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation.
Boyle, J. A., ed. (1968). The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume V: The Saljug and Mongol
Periods. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-06936-6.
Rypka, J. (1968). Karl Jahn (ed.). History of Iranian Literature. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
ISBN 978-94-010-3481-4.
Turner, Howard R. (1997). Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction (https://archi
ve.org/details/scienceinmedieva0000turn). University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-78149-0.

External links
Works by or about Omar Khayyam (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%
3A%22Khayyám%2C%20Omar%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Omar%20Khayyám%22%
20OR%20creator%3A%22Khayyám%2C%20Omar%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Omar%
20Khayyám%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Khayyám%2C%20O%2E%22%20OR%20titl
e%3A%22Omar%20Khayyám%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Khayyám%2C%20Oma
r%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Omar%20Khayyám%22%29%20OR%20%28%22104
8-1131%22%20AND%20%28%22Khayyám%22%20OR%20Khayyam%29%29%29%20AN
D%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
Works by Omar Khayyam (https://librivox.org/author/1299) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Hashemipour, Behnaz (2007). "Khayyām: Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-
Khayyāmī al-Nīshāpūrī" (http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Khayyam_BEA.htm). In Thomas
Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer.
pp. 627–8. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version (http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Khay
yam_BEA.pdf).)
Umar Khayyam (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/umar-khayyam/), in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The illustrated Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (https://archive.org/details/TheRubaiyatOfOmarK
hayyam-FirstVersion-Illustrated) at the Internet Archive

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