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OMAR (c. 581-644)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 101 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OMAR (c. 581-644) , in full 'OMAR See also:IBN AL-KHATTAB, the second of the See also:Mahommedan caliphs (see See also:CALIPHATE, A, §§ 1 and 2). Originally opposed to See also:Mahomet, he became later one of the ablest advisers both of him and of the first See also:caliph, See also:Abu Bekr. His own reign (634–644) saw See also:Islam's transformation from a religious See also:sect to an imperial See also:power. The See also:chief events were the defeat of the Persians at Kadisiya (637) and the See also:conquest of See also:Syria and See also:Palestine. The conquest of See also:Egypt followed (see EGYPT and AMR IBN EL-See also:Ass) and the final rout of the Persians at Nehawend 041) brought See also:Iran under Arab See also:rule. Omar was assassinated by a See also:Persian slave in 644, and though he lingered several days after the attack, he appointed no successor, but only a See also:body of six Muhajirun who should select a new caliph. Omar was a See also:wise and far-sighted ruler and rendered See also:great service to Islam. He is said to have built the so-called " See also:Mosque of. Omar " (" the See also:Dome of the See also:Rock ") in See also:Jerusalem, which contains the rock regarded by Mahommedans as the See also:scene of Mahomet's ascent to See also:heaven, and by the See also:Jews as that of the proposed See also:sacrifice of See also:Isaac. 'OMAR KHAYYAM [in full, GHIYATHUDDIN ABULFATH 'OMAR See also:BIN See also:IBRAHIM AL-KHAYYAMI], the great Persian mathematician, astronomer, freethinker and epigrammatist, who derived the epithet Khayyam (the tentmaker) most likely from his See also:father's See also:trade, was See also:born in or near See also:Nishapur, where he is said to have died in A.H. 517 (A.D.

1123). At an See also:

early See also:age he entered into a See also:close friendship both with See also:Nizam-ul-mulk and his school-See also:fellow IJassan ibn See also:Sabbath, who founded afterwards the terrible sect of the Assassins. When Nizam-ul-mulk was raised to the See also:rank of See also:vizier by the Seljuk See also:sultan See also:Alp-Arslan (A.D. 1063–1073) he bestowed upon IJassan ibn Sabbab the dignity of a chamber-lain, whilst offering a similar See also:court See also:office to 'Omar Khayyam. But the latter contented himself with an See also:annual See also:stipend which would enable him to devote all his See also:time to his favourite studies of See also:mathematics and See also:astronomy. His See also:standard See also:work on See also:algebra, written in Arabic, and other See also:treatises of a similar See also:character raised him at once to the foremost rank among the mathematicians of that age, and induced Sultan Malik-Shah to summon him in A.H. 467 (A.D. 1074) to See also:institute astronomical observations on a larger See also:scale, and to aid him in his great enterprise of a thorough reform of the See also:calendar. The results of 'Omar's See also:research were—a revised edition of the Zij or astronomical tables, and the introduction of the Ta'rikh-i-Malikshahi or Jalali, that is, the so-called Jalalian or Seljuk era, which commences in A.H. 471 (A.D. 1079, 15th See also:March). 'Omar's great scientific fame, however, is nearly eclipsed by his still greater poetical renown, which he owes to his rubd'is or quatrains, a collection of about 500 epigrams.

The See also:

peculiar See also:form of the rubd'i—viz. four lines, the first, second and See also:fourth of which have the same See also:rhyme, while the third usually (but not always) remains rhymeless—was first successfully introduced into Persian literature as the exclusive vehicle for subtle thoughts on the various topics of Sufic See also:mysticism by the See also:sheikh Abu Said bin Abulkhair,' but 'Omar differs in its treatment considerably from Abu Said. Although some of his quatrains are purely mystic and pantheistic, most of them See also:bear quite another See also:stamp; they are the See also:breviary of a See also:radical freethinker, who protests in the most forcible manner both against the narrowness, bigotry and uncompromising austerity of the orthodox See also:ulema and the eccentricity, See also:hypocrisy and See also:wild ravings of advanced Sufis, whom he successfully combats with their own weapons, using the whole mystic terminology simply to ridicule mysticism itself. There is in this respect a great resemblance between him and See also:Hafiz, but 'Omar is decidedly See also:superior. He has often been called the See also:Voltaire of the See also:East, and cried down as materialist and atheist. As far as purity of diction, See also:fine wit, crushing See also:satire against a debased and ignorant See also:clergy, and a See also:general sympathy with suffering humanity are concerned, 'Omar certainly reminds us of the great Frenchman; but there the comparison ceases. Voltaire never wrote anything equal to 'Omar's fascinating rhapsodies in praise of See also:wine, love and all earthly joys, and his passionate denunciations of a malevolent and inexorable ' Died See also:Jan. 1049. Comp. Eth6's edition of his ruba'is in Sitzungsberichte der bayr. Akademie (1875), pp. 145 seq., and (1878) pp. 38 seq.

; and E. G. See also:

Browne's See also:Literary Hist, of See also:Persia, ii. 261. See also:fate which dooms to slow decay or sudden See also:death and to eternal oblivion all that is great, See also:good and beautiful in this See also:world. There is a See also:touch of See also:Byron, See also:Swinburne and even of See also:Schopenhauer in many of his ruba'is, which clearly proves that the See also:modern pessimist is by no means a novel creature in the See also:realm of philosophic thought and poetical See also:imagination. The See also:Leiden copy of 'Omar Khayyam's work on algebra was noticed as far back as 1742 by Gerald Meerman in the See also:preface to his Specimen calculi fluxionalis; further notices of the same work by Sedillot appeared in the Nouv. Jour. As. (1834) and in vol. xiii. of the Notices et extraits See also:des See also:MSS. de la Bibl. See also:ray. The See also:complete See also:text, together with a See also:French See also:translation (on the basis of the Leiden and See also:Paris copies, the latter first discovered by M. Libri, see his Histoire des sciences mathematiques en See also:Italic, i.

300), was edited by F. Woepcke, L'Algebre d'Omar Alkhayyami (Paris, 1851). Articles on 'Omar's See also:

life and See also:works are found in See also:Reinaud's Geographie d'Aboulfeda, pref., p. 1o1; Notices et extraits, ix. 143 seq.; See also:Garcia de Tassy, See also:Note sur See also:les Ruba'iyat de 'Omar Hhaiyam (Paris, 1857) ; See also:Rieu, See also:Cat. Pers. MSS. in the Br. See also:Mus., ii. 546; A. Christensen, Recherches sur les Ruba'iyat de 'Omar Hayyam (See also:Heidelberg, 1905) ; V. Zhukovski's ' See also:Umar Khayyam and the " Wandering " Quatrains, translated from the See also:Russian by E. D.

See also:

Ross in the See also:Journal of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society, See also:xxx. (1898); E. G. Browne, Literary See also:History oPersia, ii. 246. The quatrains have been edited at See also:Calcutta (1836) and See also:Teheran (1857 and 1862); text and French translation by J. B. See also:Nicolas (Paris, 1867) (very incorrect and misleading) ; a portion of the same, rendered in See also:English See also:verse, by E. See also:FitzGerald (See also:London, 1859, 1872 and 1879). FitzGerald's translation has been edited with commentary by H. M. Batson (1900), and the and ed. of the same (1868) by E.

See also:

Heron See also:Allen (1908). A new English version was published in Triibner's " See also:Oriental " See also:series (1882) by E. H. Whinfield, and the first See also:critical edition of the text, with translation, by the same (1883). Important later works are N. H. See also:Dole's variorum edition (1896), J. See also:Payne's translation (1898), E. Heron Allen's edition (1898) and the Life by J. K. M. Shirazi (1905); but the literature in new See also:translations and imitations has recently multiplied exceedingly.

(H.

End of Article: OMAR (c. 581-644)

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