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Omar Khayyam

(Encyclopedia)Omar Khayyam kīämˈ [key], fl. 11th cent., Persian poet and mathematician, b. Nishapur. He was called Khayyam [tentmaker] probably because of his father's occupation. The details of his life are mos...

FitzGerald, Edward

(Encyclopedia)FitzGerald, Edward, 1809–83, English man of letters. A dilettante and scholar, FitzGerald spent most of his life living in seclusion in Suffolk. His masterpiece, a translation of The Rubaiyat of Oma...

Abu Said ibn Abi al-Khair

(Encyclopedia)Abu Said ibn Abi al-Khair äˈbo͞o säˈĭd ĭˈbən äbēˈ äl-khīrˈ [key], 967–1049, Persian poet, a Sufi and a dervish. He was the first to write rubaiyat (quatrains) in the Sufistic strain t...

Dulac, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Dulac, Edmund dyo͞olăkˈ [key], 1882–1953, French illustrator of English books. He is known for his imaginative, colorful illustrations of the Arabian Nights (1907), Shakespeare's Tempest (1908), ...

Neyshabur

(Encyclopedia)Neyshabur nāshäbo͝orˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 135,681), Razavi Khorasan prov., NE Iran; also called Nishapur. It is the trade center for a farm region where cotton, fruit, and grain are grown. Manu...

Hajj Omar

(Encyclopedia)Hajj Omar: see Hajj Umar, al-.

Omar, Mohammad

(Encyclopedia)Omar, Mohammad, 1960?–2013?, Afghan religious and political leader popularly known as Mullah Omar. From a rural Pashtun family, he became a Muslim cleric. In the 1980s he joined the mujahidin fighti...

Bongo, Omar

(Encyclopedia)Bongo, Omar (El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba) bôngˈgō [key], 1935–2009, Gabonese political leader, president of Gabon (1967–2009), b. Albert-Bernard Bongo. He entered the civil service (1958), becam...

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