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 Ansari, and Attar--that is to say, with Sufi Mystics of the purest water, men whose moral and religious reputations were spotless.
Rightly to understand Omar some knowledge of Sufism and its tenets is necessary. Sufism is a mystical doctrine which had its birth on the Arabian coast, and succeeded in implanting itself there to the point of putting a decisive check upon the orthodox philosophy. The etymology of the name is difficult to find. According to some, it comes from the word suf (wool, a woolen garment) because the first persons to adopt this doctrine clothed themselves in wool.
We can give, as a proof, in support of this etymology, the fact that the Persians call their dervishes Sufis, pechmineh poch (clothed in wool). The name could also come from the Arabic safou (purity) or the Greek sssss (wisdom). Again, some Arabic authors call by the name of Soufa an Arabic tribe that separated themselves from the world in the ante-Islamic period, consecrating themselves
to the keeping of the temple of Mecca. A man who professed the Mystic principles of tasawouf (the spiritual life) they called a
>
The origin of Musulman Mysticism is a question entailing some controversy, for whoever knows the detailed ritual and the dogmatic coldness of the Koran finds it impossible to reconcile