Who is Amin Maalouf?
--Christian Arab from Lebanon, residing in Paris since 1976, writes in French
--author of many respected historical novels
(Leo Africanus)
--recent essay In the Name of Identity is a passionate critique of ethnic and religious fanaticism


Notes on Samarkand
problem of authorship of poems attributed to Khayyam
 

1.  Rescue and arrest of Omar
2.  0mar's interview with Abu Taher, and the gift of a blank book
3.  0mar saluted as Imam
4. Nasr burns Bukhara mosque, reconciles with Scholars
5.  Omar refuses the king's gold, writes on algebra; a tryst with a poetess
6.  Preparation for Seljuk attack; the story of Nishapur
7. Tughrul demands the caliph's daughter
8. Alp Arslan threatens Samarkand, and dies by folly
9.  Meeting Malikshah; Nizam al-Mulk set a date; advice from Abu Taher
10. Ruba'is (poetic quatrains); lovers parting
11.  0mar meets Hassan
12.  Isfahan; 0mar requests an Observatory, and is offered a position as spy master
13.  Hassan is hired by Nizam al-Mulk, and opposes his patron
14.  Hassan is discomfited, but saved from death and blinding by Omar

Khayyam (originally Khayyami), "tentmaker" (p. 11)
failasuf (Greek philosophos) = philosopher
qadi = Muslim judge

 
astrology and medicine in relation to philosophy
Sultanate and caliphate

28. "Shafi [Shafi`i] ritual" - one of the four schools of law
37. `Abbasid caliph scorns marriage offer from Seljuk Turks
53. Ruba`i, plural Ruba`iyat: a quatrain or 4-line poem, not very highly esteemed in comparison to the lyric (ghazal) and the ode (qasida)
65. madrasa Nizamiya: a system of colleges for Sunni Islam
67. Spy networks as support of empire
(advocated by Nizam al-Mulk in his Book of Government)
73. wine rituals of Persian court