The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam - The Original Classic Edition. Khayyam Omar

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      THE SUFISTIC QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM

       IN DEFINITIVE FORM

       INCLUDING THE TRANSLATIONS OF

       EDWARD FITZGERALD (101 quatrains)

       With Edward Heron-Allen's Analysis

       E.H. WHINFIELD (500 quatrains)

       J.B. NICOLAS (464 quatrains)

       WITH PREFACES BY EACH TRANSLATOR AND A GENERAL INTRODUCTION DEALING WITH OMAR'S PLACE IN SUFISM, BY

       ROBERT ARNOT, M.A.

       Author of "The Vine in Symbolism"

       M. WALTER DUNNE, PUBLISHER, NEW YORK & LONDON

       v

       Copyright, 1903, BY

       M. WALTER DUNNE, PUBLISHER

       vii ILLUSTRATIONS FACING

       PAGE

       The Tomb of Omar

       From an old painting by an unknown artist. Frontispiece

       The Approach To Naishapur

       From a painting by I.R. Herbert. 100

       Sufi Mystics Gathered for Meditation

       From an old painting by a Pushtu artist. 210 ix

       TABLE OF CONTENTS

       PAGE

       General Introduction xi

       Introduction to the First Edition of Edward Fitzgerald's

       Translation of the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam 1

       The Complete Fitzgerald First Edition 13

       Kuza-Nama 25

       1

       Notes 29

       An Analysis of Edward Fitzgerald's Translation (Fifth

       Edition), by Edward Heron-Allen 35

       Preface 37

       Explanation of References 42

       Analysis of Edward Fitzgerald's Quatrains 44

       Appendix 107

       Variations Between the Second, Third and Fourth Editions of Fitzgerald's Translation 115

       Stanzas Which Appear in the Second Edition Only 122

       Comparative Table of Stanzas in the Four Editions Of

       Fitzgerald 124

       Note 127

       The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam Translated by E.H.

       Whinfield, M.A. 129

       Introduction 131

       Note 139

       E.H. Whinfield Translation 141

       The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam Translated into Prose from the French Version of Monsieur J.B. Nicolas 267

       Preface 269

       Translation of the Nicolas Text 279

       Footnotes xi

       GENERAL INTRODUCTION

       The earliest reference to Omar Khayyam dates from the middle of the seventh century of the Hijra.[1] Mohammad Shahrazuri, author of a little-used history of learned men, bearing the title of > devotes to Khayyam the following passage:

       (or ) and the other [2] He was learned in the law, in classical Arabic, and in history.

       and proceeded to ask Al-Khayyami [for his opinion] on the matter. ['Omar] enumerated the various readings of the Readers, and explained the grounds ('ilal) for each one.xii He also mentioned the exceptional readings and the arguments in favor of each, and expressed his preference for one view in particular.

       Koran Readers knew the readings by heart to this extent--much less one of the secular philosophers.>

       , Al-Ghazzali, came to see

       him and asked him how it came that one could distinguish one of the parts of the sphere which revolve on the axis from the rest, although the sphere was similar in all its parts. Al-Khayyami pronounced his views, beginning with a certain category; but he refrained from entering deeply into the discussion--and such was the wont of this respected Sheykh. [Their conversation was interrupted by] the call to mid-day prayer, whereupon Al-Ghazzali said, 'Omar arose and went to visit Sultan Sanjar. The latter was [at the time] a mere child, and was suffering from an attack of smallpox. When he came away the Vezir asked him, 'Omar answered, An Ethiopian slave reported this saying to the Sultan, and when the Sultan recovered he became inimical to 'Omar and did not like him. Melik-Shah treated him as a boon companion; and Shams-ul-Mulk honored him greatly, and made him sit beside him on his throne.

       2

       from [Avicenna's] When he reached the section on he placed the toothpick between the two leaves, arose, performed his prayers and made his last injunctions. He neither ate nor drank anything [that day]; and when he performed the last evening prayer, he bowed himself to the ground and said as he bowed: the extent of myxiii power: forgive me, therefore. Verily my knowledge of Thee is my recommendation to Thee.> And [so saying], he died; may God have pity on him!>>

       We may look upon Omar as a deeply learned man, following his own convictions, who, tortured with the question of existence, and finding no solution to life in Musulman dogmas, worked out for himself a regular conception of life based on Sufistic Mysticism; a man who, without discarding belief, smiled ironically at the inconsistencies and peculiarities of the Islam of his time, which left many minds dissatisfied in the fourth and fifth centuries, needing as it did vivification. It found this in the person of Ghazzali, who in this movement assigned the proper place to the Mystic element. Omar was a preacher of moral purity and of a contemplative life; one who loved his God and struggled to master the eternal, the good, and the beautiful.

       In this manner also is Omar portrayed in the various early biographical notices: a defender of > famous for his knowledge of the Koran and the Law, and at the same time a > to the dogmatic; a wit and a mocker, a bitter and implacable enemy of all hypocrisy; a man who, while curing others of the wounds of worldly triviality, impurity, and sinful vanity, himself only with almost his last breath closed the philosophic book on > and turned with a touching prayer to the One God, the Infinite, whom he had been striving to comprehend with all the strength of his mind and heart. Khayyam's lively protests and his heated words in freedom's cause brought upon him many bitter moments in his life and exposed him to numerous attacks at the hands of the mullahs, especially those of the Shiite community.

       Besides these, then as now (apart from hypocrites), persons were not wanting who, failing to understand Omar, regarded him as an unbeliever, atheist, and materialist. But in the course of centuries the people of Persia and India, realizing, perhaps instinctively, the injustice of former reproaches, have taken to publishing and reading Omar Khayyam in collections side by side with Abu-Said,xiv Abd-Allah

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