My Reading: ‘Samarkand’ by Amin Maalouf

The book tells exciting stories around Omar Khayyam, Hassan Sabbah, and Nizam al-Mulk, three vibrant characters from the 11th century Middle Asia.

Their charisma, tactics, and creations will fascinate someone, even, in today’s world!

Storytelling brings in a good deal of contemporary society, culture, and conflicts, too!

The following piece is a summary of the first part of the book with some critical review.

Summary Reading with Critical Review

On the day of his first arrival in the town, Omar Khayyam rescued Jaber, a companion of Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna) from a mob beating. The consequential incidents led him to be summoned to the court of Abu Taher, the chief qadi of Samarkand. Omar Khayyam, born in Nishapur, already made a name because of his knowledge at that young age, and qadi recognized him. Qadi dispatches the mob-leader and takes Omar for indulgence with some personal advice.

Philosophers were not favorable among the crowd of religiosity in that society. Because of Greek origination and association, this branch of knowledge did not have similar crowd-respect as literature, especially poetry, did. It was regarded as the heresy among rank and file.

Omar Khayyam was also both an outspoken person and a rising philosopher. The wise, and much older by age, Abu Taher could see the danger of being outspoken in such a society of Samarkand. His own brother was banished from the town for writing a poem that did not go well with the religiosity.

Later, he also mentioned that between sovereign and the religious establishment, an unending war goes on. Sometimes, it can be overt and bloody. And, most of the time, this war is clandestine and insidious.

So while acknowledging the extraordinary brilliance bestowed by the Almighty, qadi advises Omar to follow the wisdom of silence. He gave Omar a book with empty pages to write down whenever any verse comes to his mind and advised him to keep the book hidden. That is how one of the most kept secrets of literature, Rubaiyyat, came to life.

Omar Khayyam found his love with a female court poetess, a widow, named Jahan. While accommodating the passionate lovers, being a trusted and wise friend, Abu Taher tried to bring Omar into reason by explaining the absurdity of their romance. That, on the serious note, the way Omar sees the perspective of life is fundamentally different than how Jahan sees it.

Jahan was a court poetess and also sees herself making a life in and around the royal court. Eventually, she deeply embedded herself into the politics and typical intrigues of a royal harem.

Omar, on the other hand, was more of a sage who finds court life unbearable and was staying out of necessity for the time being.

However, they also shared some solid lines of commonality, in addition to their poetries. On the personal note, none of them wanted children because of their own very different reasons. Although Omar avoided being actively engaged in political intricacies, he was a keen and wise observer in the matters. He, himself, spent most of his life in and around the notable political figures of the time.

We will see that at the heightened initial conflict between the grand vizier Nizam al-Mulk and Hassan Sabbah, the politically savvy queen of Malik Shah, the ‘Chinese woman’, tried to reason him to accept the position of vizier.

So, other than feeling connection from the very beginning, over time, they brewed the attractions out of other common interests. Their romance was intact until the murder of Jahan in the royal palace.

As Omar said later, the time has two dimensions. The length of which is measured by the rhythm of the sun while the depth of which by the rhythm of passion. It appeared that he found his time-tested passion of love with Jahan!

Seljuk Turks were rising as the political power. These obscure nomadic chieftains, recently converted into Islam, were consolidating and spreading their sphere.

Their rising political tornado was just gaining momentum by taking over the Muslim cities and towns before it moved along the way towards Christian Europe under the leadership of Sultan Alp Arslan.

Omar Khayyam himself had a grim recalling associated with the blockade and invasion of these initial Seljuk hordes into Nishapur. It was the holy month of Ramadan (in Islam) when the blockade happened. The incident itself happened ten years before the birth of Khayyam.

However, it was so dire that the fearsome memory continued reverberating for generations. Eventually, while the Nishapur could escape the usual looting and plundering of the victors, in a dramatic manner, the city never forgot the Great Fear of Ramadan.

It was not the fear of being ruled by the invaders, instead of the incumbent rulers. The inhabitants really could not care less about the change in the dynasty or ruler, except one key factor.

That, when the transition happens, the area goes through torments of incessant looting, rape, murdering or whatever other exploitation pleases the incoming victor. Very often the leader would permit their military to do so as a reward of their fight and victory, for a certain time.

One ruler wins over another and takes ownership of the subjects. Subjects remain subjects as they were before, except the fact that their allegiance to the new governors is not tested yet. So, the newly occupied territories are subjected to new kinds of subjugations or coercing efforts until stability of allegiance is confirmed.

An interesting question may arise here, though, especially in light of modern urban warfare. What if the citizens took up arms and fight alongside the ruling armies? Or, what if they just stood up by themselves as a rebellious segment?

The encounter of the grandfather of Nasr Khan while he tried to take over the Balk in absence of its sovereign, Mahmoud, can be a good example of why that was a less likely occurrence. In short, what happened is, the inhabitants took up arms and made the invading army retreat by killing a good chunk of their men.

It is interesting how the defeated leader reacted to the incident, afterward.

In a letter sent to Mahmoud, he ardently complained about the fact that common people meddled into something which was meant to be only their affairs!

He mentioned, whomever God grants victory out of their clash, could rule. ‘But, where will we go if common people start meddling into our quarrels?’

In response, Mahmoud took the side of the invader, punished his own subjects by fining golds, and forbade them to carry arms!

Therefore, Nasr Khan, while facing the imminent threat from Seljuk Alp Arslan, expressed similar intentions. He mentioned that he would rather hand himself over to Alp Arslan, than putting his safety to the citizenry.

On the surface, it appears that the rulers were merely protecting their prestige from being bruised by the common citizenry. At the deeper level, however, they were essentially removing a bigger and arbitrary threat, altogether, via this kind of mutual agreement.

While invading and occupying a place of the mass population, the risk from the sovereign was often pre-calculated and defined. However, if the mass people also come into play, and become a variable to consider, the dice can roll very arbitrarily.

For the invaders, it will be like a terrain where danger can come out of nowhere. For the existing ruling class, raising the citizenry as a parallel fighting companion is essentially a promotion of mass people.

In addition to the fact that, now, the sovereigns are subject to the motion of their subjects. The wave can take a turn, and they may not be exploitable anymore.

So, keeping the citizenry out of engagement benefitted all ruling contingents. It was like a hunters’ agreement. Setting the rule of the game to explicitly serve the hunters only.

Unless the hunter permanently gives up exploiting the mass people and sets its eye solely on other hunters. Which, in both motive and style, itself was unique.

Another character of the book, grandmaster of Alamut, Hassan Sabbah mastered the art of it. And, in return, history had to reserve a place for him by coining the term ‘Assassin’.

Hassan was a Shitte missionary. Omar Khayyam was amazed by the knowledge and intelligence of this newcomer in the town of Isfahan. Omar mentioned later that he never met such a tightly-wound turban holding this much knowledge. It did not take long to develop a respectful friendship between both.

By this time, Omar Khayyam was already a trusted friend of the grand vizier, Nizam al-Mulk. Nizam offered Omar to take a position for creating an information network throughout the empire. This was essentially meant to be a spy network that Nizam badly needed to run the administration.

Omar Khayyam, being more interested in his works in mathematics and astronomy, refused the position, respectfully. Instead, he introduced his newcomer friend, Hassan, as a potential alternative candidate. He hoped that it will also be a solace for Nizam to think that his friend is still trying to help, instead of giving a blank refusal to his offer.

The administration developed and run by the Nizam al-Mulk was based on meritocracy, not driven by the propensity of religious, or ethnic segregations. Some of his best collaborators were sectarians of Ali, the best soldiers were Armenians and the best treasurers were Jews. So, spotting the brilliance through interaction, Nizam appointed Hassan Sabbah at the position that was offered to Omar Khayyam.

To the credit of Nizam al-Mulk about what was followed as a consequence, he was open to distrust the Ismailis. Although Hassan was born in Qom, an epicenter of Ismaili sect, he came from a traditional Shitte family.

However, by the time he met Omar Khayyam, he was already converted, took an oath, and was actually one of the Ismailis. Later, he revealed that it was part of his mission to infiltrate the top administration of the Seljuk empire so that he could work as a safeguard for his Ismaili brothers in times of danger.

Neither Nizam nor Omar could find out about his new identity. Besides, Hassan appeared to be more than just another smart Persian. He dedicated himself to build a spy network throughout the empire and beyond. He proved his talent as the spymaster and, soon, built a vast network by working under vizier.

Things were going well so far. Until Hassan planned to topple Nizam and take over the position of the grand vizier. He almost succeeded in cornering Nizam as Malik Shah, the sultan & son of Alp Arslan, lost confidence in his vizier on the management of the treasury.

Hassan was given the command of the whole secretariat to establish management within forty days. To his credit, he accomplished the near-impossible task of bringing an order of treasury in the empire. However, that also ended up being the last nail in the coffin of his friendship with the vizier, Nizam al-Mulk.

On the final day, some of his valuable documents prepared on the treasury were found missing when he was presenting the report in front of all, including the sultan. That could also be the last day of his life if Omar Khayyam could not convince Malik Shah to bring down the punishment to permanently banishing him from the empire.

Omar Khayyam saved his life and earned the friendship ever since. That was also the beginning of hostility between the grand vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, and the ex-spy master, Hassan Sabbah.

Hassan spent the next few years traveling throughout Damascus, Azerbaijan, etc. and received missionary training i.e. method of persuasion, conversion, and even, the art of communication via secret codes, in Cairo. He was convinced that he needed to act proactively to prepare a field for the smooth coming of Mahdi.

Followed by the training, he traveled city after city on his mission. The group kept growing irrespective of the opposition of ulema (traditional Islamic scholars).

Anathema after anathema of the ulema against this group did not bring much success. Neither did the crackdown by the administration of Nizam al-Mulk.

The administrative oppression turned the group towards further violence. Kidnapping big groups, persuasion, forced conversion, or killing the unwilling ones leading to the rubble of mayhem. Killing and counter-killing continued crumbling the peace throughout the Seljuk empire.

During such a mission of preaching and conversion in the disguise of a Sufi, Hassan Sabbah was caught red-handed in Samarkand. However, instead of facing the fate of a prisoner, Sabbah ended up converting the prince, the sovereign of the town, overnight!

The consequential result was the peaceful mass establishment of the Ismailis in the administration. Qadi Abu Taher had to flee the town and took refuge in Isfahan.

In response, vizier managed to raid Samarkand by convincing Malik Shah and captured the Ismaili chieftains. The raid itself was a delicate task to arrange as Samarkand not only was out of the Seljuk territory of Malik Shah, but was also being governed by the family of his most influential wife, the ‘Chinese woman’.

Therefore, Nizam can be credited for banishing the Ismailis by managing this unlikely invasion using Seljuk armies. However, it was also believed to crack his relationship with the palace. This task might also be the one to cost his life, eventually.

Hassan Sabbah could manage to flee with his life. The incident also taught him not to focus too much on the conversion of the elites as it would eventually invite the wrath of Seljuks, inevitably. He was well aware that his force or companions were no match to the regular army. It was a solemn understanding that led to his next tactical strategy, the creation of the order of Assassins.

For his purpose, he needed a place to train, control, and command his followers without facing the risk of external intervention. That is how the geostrategically invincible fortress of Alamut came into play for the order.

Alamut, situated in the mountains, was both too inaccessible to invade from outside and big enough to accommodate a village or town. At that time, it was still being governed by a person appointed by Nizam al-Mulk.

However, when the fortress was confiscated by Hassan Sabbah, the vizier was too busy with his other state affairs at Isfahan. No wonder, a person who later created the masterpiece like Siyasatnama (Book of Government) was having plenty on his plate, already.

Or, maybe, Hassan’s strategy of how he took over the fortress was due to credit. The hand over took place in a way that created either no wave at all or it was too weak to draw the attention of Nizam from Isfahan.

Instead of invading Alamut, Hassan Sabbah converted the population of the valley beforehand by sending his missionary groups. Then, he went in peace as a Sufi Darvish, his usual disguise or as he liked to think of himself, and offered to take over the fortress.

The absurdity of the claim unclouded soon as the proposition made to the leaders was both too profitable and too risky to deny. It was another sign of the tactical brilliance of the man who was setting his stronghold to withstand for the next one hundred and sixty-six years.

Hassan constructed a hierarchical organization where he sat at the top, surrounded by selected circles of missionaries who often were constituted of the regional heads of the organization. The class followed downwards as the rafiqs (companions), lasseks, and mujibs.

Lasseks were the rank and file people (e.g. shepherds, old men) who had no tendency to study or violent activities. Mujibs (answerers) were guided toward a deeper study to become the companions and to move upwards. The remaining class was fida’is (sacrifice themselves) who eventually became the terrorizing signature of the organization because of their assassination missions throughout history.

It is remarkably interesting to note that such a cadre-based organization is not unique only in the creed of assassins established by Hassan Sabbah. However, it remains a mystery, to my knowledge, if he followed any previous example or, instead, left the first example to be followed with his unique organizational architecture.

The fort of Alamut eventually fell during the second wave of Mongol invasion. Prince Hulagu, the grandson of Chengiz Khan, went there to visit the legendary masterpiece of military constructions.

Later, Khan ordered to burn down the whole establishment, including the library built from it’s early days. Only his Sunni historian, Juvaini, was allowed to take as much of the manuscripts or books as he could before setting the fire.

That was the end of Alamut, the legacy of Hassan Sabbah. On the contrary, his friend and foe, Nizam al-Mulk left a far-reaching impact throughout his works and establishments.

Also, at this point, it appears too naive to draw the conclusion that the alleged assassination of Nizam al-Mulk was the result of the personal feud originated during Hassan’s early career at Isfahan. It is more reasonable to think that Nizam became a substantial threat to the killing machines of Alamut, and lead to his assassination.

Nizam al-Mulk also left loyalist followers, often called Nizamiya. Nizamiya went into killing spree to avenge their master’s death. There happened several high profile deaths afterward, including that of the sultan Malik Shah. This, in turn, brings in the additional non-conclusive reasonings of his murder that palace politics can also not be totally removed from the scene.

While the acts of Nizamiya were not less of a bloodthirsty anyway, it did not last long in the absence of a well structured and nurtured organization, unlike that of the loyalists of Alamut. Hassan Sabbah remained out of their touch as he, allegedly, remained secluded in the fortress for the rest of his life after the murder of Nizam.

And, Omar Khayyam, the common friend of the duo, outlived both of them. Needless to say that he became more alive long after his death because of his contributions in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and last, but not least, the poetry of Rubaiyyat!

To the credit of Amin Maalouf, the characters of Nizam al-Mulk and Hassan Sabbah was constructed carefully without letting them shadow the centerline of the story, Omar Khayyam or more of his Rubaiyyat. Another contemporary historical character, Alp Arslan was also mentioned with similar restrictions within the context without letting it skew the main focus of the book.

However, throughout the book, Omar Khayyam’s notable identities, other than being the creator of Rubaiyyat, limited to some occasional mentioning. As a natural outcome, he was largely dwarfed within the context as a historical figure. So is true in the case of Nizam al-Mulk.

On the contrary, in my opinion, Hassan Sabbah received, relatively, more highlights as a historical figure. This ‘highlight’ is not necessarily measured by the scale of how much text was allocated to construct the character. Rather, it is portrayed by the depth of impression the author left in the mind of the reader. As a reader, I found that, among three, the devil is portrayed with the deepest mark of an impression!

Eventually, considering everything, Amin Maalouf rightly placed them in a sentence: Omar Khayyam observed the world, Nizam al-Mulk governed it, and Hassan Sabbah terrorized it!

About the second part of the book:

The second half of the story rotates around a fictional character, an American young man, who went through some events to retrieve the lost manuscript of Rubaiyyat. He shares the middle name of Omar, an exotic part of his identity for an American man, because of his french parent’s fascination with Omar Khayyam.

He went to the Iran of Shah, twice, and retrieved the lost original manuscript only to lose it permanently when the Titanic went down the sea along with the book.

To construct the plot with a contemporary timeline, the character was embedded within some depiction of the national struggles of the country and his fictional romance with a Persian princess.

In my personal view, this part appeared as more of a derailed monologue that could be easily not part of the book. The story was largely so disconnected from the incident and place of Samarkand that it can be debated whether this narration really fits within the context as a sequel of the first part.

That is why I could not find this part interesting enough to write on.

It is also noteworthy to mention that, the prominent historical character of Jamaladin appeared with a leading influence in the second part of the story and placed the journey of Omar Khayyam’s creation as something to be carried along.

While the story still went back to the Rubaiyyat to maintain the centerline of rotation, the contextualization of Omar Khayyam was largely shadowed by the appearance of another philosophical ideologist at the distance of nearly 700 years.

It is also understandable that the author has his solemn right to constrain the identities considering the scope of the work. Besides, it is a daunting task to accommodate such strong historical characters together without shadowing the main focus of the story.

In my opinion, Amin Maalouf could do better in that context.

A Totally Fictional Brainstorming

If I could travel back and forth in time, I would bring Nizam al-Mulk from 11th century, Machiavelli from the 15th century, and Chanakya from the -3rd century (BC), and put them together to prepare a governing manifesto covering from east to west.

There would be one real concern with the arrangement, though! Having a shrewd, and relatively modern Machiavelli in the group can potentially do more harm than good as you never know how he will turn the table.

However, there is a hope that the other two, together, can manage to straighten him up and work out something good. Besides, Nizam al-Mulk was also a battle-tested warrior and a leader alongside being the time-tested governor, unlike the remaining two. That can potentially help, too!

We would need military strategists as well. I would bring in Hassan Sabbah along with Sun Tzu from -6th century (BC), and probably someone else from relatively modern times, and see if they can work something out. Or, should Hassan Sabbah be kept out of the team, totally?

There is also a possibility that it will be a pretty bad idea. This kind of independent and brilliant minds are unique and may not accommodate each other in a single arrangement.

In that case, we will need a conciliatory person like Omar Khayyam. Someone who will be respected by all irrespective of their differences, and who will also have the unwavering well intentions for all parties. Just like he was for both Nizam al-Mulk and Hassan Sabbah!

Who would you team up along with the three friends of this book?

Disclaimer: The sentences, interpretations are subject to historical fact-checking. The book itself is a historical NOVEL. Not necessarily a book of history passed through the rigorous checking of the facts. I tried to make a readable article using my notes taken while reading the book. So, this article reflects my own selections and viewpoints on the used contents of the book.

Acknowledgments: The writer acknowledges Anwar Hossain and Mamdudur Rahman for providing him with the book, and accommodation during the Covid-19 created difficult quarantine time, respectively.

About the writer: Mohammad O. Tuhin (Tuhin_mo)received his doctorate in chemical engineering from the North Carolina State University of the United States, and is engaged in research within the field of macromolecular science & engineering.