Statements of Faith

Excerpt from The Koran (c. seventh century)
Translated by N. J. Dawood; Published in 1990

Excerpt from "The Holy Light; How It Descends upon the Holy Sepulchre," in The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land (1106–1107)
Originally written by Abbot Daniel; Published in 1888

Excerpt from "The Prior Who Became a Moslem," in Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night (c. 1000—1400)
Reprinted in The Arabian Nights; Translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton; Published in 1997

"Profession of Faith" (1120)
Originally written by Omar Khayyam; Reprinted in The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East; Edited by Charles F. Horne; Published in 1917

The four excerpts of this section examine different statements about the power of faith and belief. The first is from the Koran, or Islamic holy book, also known as the Qur'an. The teachings and prayers in the Koran were supposedly spoken to Muhammad by God, and it is the source of the major principles of Islam. The Koran was intended to be recited, or spoken aloud, and was written down only in the seventh century, several decades after the death of Muhammad. The excerpt included here celebrates an early victory of the followers of Muhammad, perhaps the taking of Mecca in 630. Muhammad was born there in about 570 and worked as a trader until he had a vision that he was meant to be the messenger of God in a new religion. Muhammad was forced to leave Mecca in 622 for the city of Medina. The Muslim calendar begins from this date, the time of the hijra or "flight." Muhammad quickly gained support in Medina, and by 630 Mecca surrendered to him.

The second excerpt describes a miraculous event that takes place every Easter at the tomb, or burial place, of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. This event is known as the Holy Light, or Holy Fire, that supposedly illuminates, or lights up, Christ's tomb. Pilgrims, or religious visitors, come in huge numbers to witness this event. This was true even at the time when the Russian holy man Abbot Daniel paid his visit to Jerusalem in 1106 and 1107. In fact, this miracle of a dancing light that appears the Saturday before Easter was first recorded in the fourth century. During the ceremony the candles that the faithful carry to the church are lit spontaneously by this mysterious light, with no one putting a match to them. Such miracles were more usual in the medieval church and were a powerful influence on the faithful.

The power of miracles in prompting a change of religion is seen in the third excerpt, "The Prior Who Became a Moslem" a tale from the Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night. This anonymous gathering of stories from all over the Middle East and even India is also known as The Thousand and One Nights or The Arabian Nights. It has not been determined exactly when or where these tales began, but it is thought they were collected starting in about the middle of the tenth century. New tales continued to be added after that date, and events and names from many centuries and many states of the Middle East can be found in them. Perhaps the best-known tales in the West are ones such as "Ali Baba," "Sinbad," and "Aladdin," but these are only the tip of a very deep and rich iceberg of literature. Some collections have all one thousand and one tales, others fewer. The first European editions of this collection did not appear until 1704.

In the last excerpt of this section, another sort of faith is on display. Omar Khayyam, an eleventh- and twelfth-century Persian mathematician and poet, is best known for his collection of verses called the Rubaiyat. In his poem, "Profession of Faith," he maps out his own version of what he believed in, somewhere between Islam and Christianity. For Khayyam, enjoying this world of earthly pleasures seems more important than a promised heaven after death. Such a philosophy was not, however, very common in the Middle Ages, a time when religion drove the major events.

Things to remember while reading excerpts from "Statements of Faith":

• Unlike the Bible, the Koran refers to religious and historical events but seldom provides narrative accounts. Instead, it focuses on the importance of such events.
• The Koran is divided into 114 suras, or chapters. These are not organized by time but by length, beginning with the longest and working toward the shortest prayers.
• Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lived together peacefully, if not always happily, in the Middle East before the time of the Crusades. As can be seen in "The Prior Who Became a Moslem," Christians and Muslims came into daily contact with one another.
• Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat consists of about 104-line poems on the themes of love and the enjoyment of pleasures from food to drink.
• Omar Khayyam was much better known in his own day as a mathematician and also an astronomer than he was as a poet. His fame in the West comes as the result of a nineteenth-century translation of his works into English.

Excerpt from The Koran

Excerpt from "The Holy Light"

The following is a description of the Holy Light, which descends upon the Holy Sepulchre, as the Lord vouchsafed to show it to me, his wicked and unworthy servant.… Many pilgrims relate incorrectly the details about the descent of that Holy Light. Some say that the Holy Ghost descends upon the Holy Sepulchre in the form of a dove;others that it is lightning from heaven which kindles the lamps above the Sepulchre of the Lord. This is all untrue, for neither dove nor lightning is to be seen at that moment; but the Divine grace comes down unseen from heaven, and lights the lamps of the Sepulchre of our Lord.… On Holy Friday , after Vespers , they clean the Holy Sepulchre and wash all the lamps that are there; they fill the lamps with pure oil without water and after having put in the wicks , leave them unlighted; they affix the seals to the Tomb at the second hour of the night. At the same time they extinguish all the lamps and wax candles in every church in Jerusalem. Upon that same Friday, at the first hour of the day, I, the unworthy, entered the presence of Prince Baldwin, and bowed myself to the ground before him. Seeing me, as I bowed, he bade me, in a friendly manner, come to him, and said, "What dost thou want, Russian abbot ?" for he knew me and liked me, being a man of great kindness and humility.… I said to him, "My prince and my lord! For the love of God, and out of regard for the Russian princes, allow me to place my lamp on the Holy Sepulchre in the name of the whole Russian country." Then with peculiar kindness and attention he gave me permission to place my lamp on the Sepulchre of the Lord, and sent one of his chief retainers with me to the custodian of the Resurrection, and to the keeper of the keys of the Holy Sepulchre.… Opening the sacred portal for me, he ordered me to take off my shoes; and then, having admitted me barefooted to the Holy Sepulchre, with the lamp that I bore, he directed me to place it on the Tomb of the Lord. I placed it, with my sinful hands, on the spot occupied by the sacred feet of our Lord Jesus Christ.… After having placed my lamp on the Holy Sepulchre, and after having adored and kissed, with penitence and pious tears, the sacred place upon which the body of our Lord Jesus Christ lay; I left the Holy Tomb filled with joy, and retired to my cell .

On the morrow , Holy Saturday, at the sixth hour of the day, everyone assembles in front of the Church of the Holy Resurrection; foreigners and natives people from all countries, from Babylon, from Egypt, and from every part of the world, come together on that day in countless numbers; the crowd fills the open space round the church and round the place of the Crucifixion. The crush is terrible, and the turmoil so great that many persons are suffocated in the dense crowd of people who stand, unlighted tapers in hand, waiting for the opening of the church doors. The priests alone are inside the church, and priests and crowd alike wait for the arrival of the Prince and his suite ; then, the doors being opened, the people rush in, pushing and jostling each other, and fill the church and the galleries,for the church alone could not contain such a multitude. A large portion of the crowd has to remain outside round Golgotha and the place of the skull, and as far as the spot where the crosses were set up; every place is filled with an innumerable multitude.… The faithful shed torrents of tears; even he who has a heart of stone cannot refrain from weeping ; each one, searching the innermost depths of his soul, thinks of his sins, and says secretly to himself, "Will my sins prevent the descent of the Holy Light?" … At the end of the ninth hour, … a small cloud, coming suddenly from the east, rested above the open dome of the church; fine rain fell on the Holy Sepulchre, and wet us and all those who were above the Tomb. It was at this moment that the Holy Light suddenly illuminated the Holy Sepulchre, shining with an awe-aspiring and splendid brightness.…

This Holy Light is like no ordinary flame, for it burns in a marvellous way with indescribable brightness, and a ruddy colour like that of cinnabar . All the people remain standing with lighted tapers, and repeat in a loud voice with intense joy and eagerness: "Lord, have mercy upon us!" …

Directly the light shone in the Holy Sepulchre the chant ceased, and all, crying out "Kyrie Eleison ," moved towards the church with great joy, bearing the lighted tapers in their hands, and protecting them from the wind. Everyone then goes home.… Carrying the lighted tapers, we returned to our monastery with the abbot and the monks; we finished the Vespers there and then retired to our cells.

Excerpt from "The Prior Who Became a Moslem"

Said Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Al-Anbari: "I once left Anbar on a journey to 'Amuriyah, where there came out to me the prior of the monastery and superior of the monkery , called Abd al-Masih, and brought me into the building. There I found forty religious, who entertained me that night with fair guest rite, [ceremony] and I left them after seeing among them such diligence in adoration and devotion as I never beheld the like of in any others.…

And next year I made pilgrimage to Meccah and as I was circumambulating the Holy House I saw Abd al-Masih the monk also compassing the Ka'abah , and with him five of his fellows, the shavelings . Now when I was sure that it was indeed he, I accosted him, saying, 'Are you not Abd al-Masih, the Religious?' and he replied, 'Nay, I am Abdallah, the Desirous.'

Therewith I fell to kissing his grey hairs and shedding tears; then, taking him by the hand, I led him aside into a corner of the Temple and said to him, 'Tell me the cause of your conversion to al-Islam;' and he made reply, 'Verily , it was a wonder of wonders, and befell thus:

A company of Moslem devotees came to the village wherein is our convent, and sent a youth to buy them food. He saw, in the market, a Christian damsel selling bread, who was of the fairest of women; and he was struck at first sight with such love of her, that his senses failed him and he fell on his face in a fainting fit. When he revived , he returned to his companions and told them what had befallen him, saying, 'Go you about your business; I may not go with you.'

They chided him and exhorted him, but he paid no heed to them; so they left him while he entered the village and seated himself at the door of the woman's booth. She asked him what he wanted, and he told her that he was in love with her, whereupon she turned from him; but he abode in his place three days without tasting food, keeping his eyes fixed on her face. Now when as she saw that he departed not from her, she went to her people and acquainted them with his case, and they set on him the village boys, who stoned him and bruised his ribs and broke his head; but, for all this, he would not budge.

Then the villagers took counsel together to slay him; but a man of them came to me and told me of his case, and I went out to him and found him lying prostrate on the ground. So I wiped the blood from his face and carried him to the convent, and dressed his wounds; and there he abode with me fourteen days. But as soon as he could walk, he left the monastery and returned to the door of the woman's booth, where he sat gazing on her as before.

When she saw him she came out to him and said, 'By Allah you move me to pity! Will you enter my faith that I may marry you?'

He cried, 'Allah forbid that I should put off the faith of Unity and enter that of Plurality!'

Said she, 'Come in with me to my house and take your will of me and go your way in peace.'

Said he, 'Not so, I will not waste the worship of twelve years for the lust of an eye-twinkle.'

Said she, 'Then depart from me forthwith ;' and he said, 'My heart will not suffer me to do that'; whereupon she turned her countenance from him.

Presently the boys found him out and began to pelt him with stones; and he fell on his face, saying, 'Verily, Allah is my protector, who sent down the Book of the Koran ; and He protects the Righteous!'

At this I sallied forth and driving away the boys, lifted his head from the ground and heard him say, 'Allah mine, unite me with her in Paradise!'

Then I carried him to the monastery, but he died, before I could reach it, and I bore him without the village and I dug for him a grave and buried him.

And next night when half of it was spent, the damsel cried with a great cry (and she in her bed); so the villagers flocked to her and questioned her of her case.

Said she, 'As I slept, behold the Moslem man came in to me and taking me by the hand, carried me to the gate of Paradise; but the Guardian denied me entrance, saying, 'It is forbidden to unbelievers.'

So I embraced Al Islam at his hands and, entering with him, beheld therein pavilions and trees, such as I cannot describe to you. Moreover, he brought me to a pavilion of jewels and said to me, 'Of a truth this is my pavilion and yours, nor will I enter it except with you; after five nights you shall be with me therein, if it be the will of Allah Almighty.'

Then he put forth his hand to a tree which grew at the door of the pavilion and plucked there from two apples and gave them to me, saying, 'Eat this and keep the other, that the monks may see it.'

So I ate one of them and never tasted I any sweeter. Then he took my hand and fared forth and carried me back to my house; and, when I awoke, I found the taste of the apple in my mouth and the other in my hand.'

So saying she brought out the apple, and in the darkness of the night it shone as it were a sparkling star. So they carried her (and the apple with her) to the monastery, where she repeated her vision and showed it to us; never saw we its like among all the fruits of the world. Then I took a knife and cut the apple into pieces according as we were folk in company; and never knew we any more delicious than its savour nor more delightsome than its scent; but we said, 'Haply this was a devil that appeared unto her to seduce her from her faith.'

Thereupon her people took her and went away; but she abstained from eating and drinking and on the fifth night she rosefrom her bed, and going forth the village to the grave of her Moslem lover threw herself upon it and died, her family not knowing what was come of her. But, on the morrow , there came to the village two Moslem elders, clad in hair cloth, and with them two women in like garb, and said, 'O people of the village, with you is a woman Saint, a Waliyah of the friends of Allah, who died a Moslemah ; and we will take charge of her in lieu of you.'

So the villagers sought her and found her dead on the Moslem's grave; and they said, 'This was one of us and she died in our faith; so we will take charge of her.'

Rejoined the two old men, 'Nay , she died a Moslemah and we claim her.'

And the dispute grew to a quarrel between them, till one of the Shaykhs said, 'Be this the test of her faith: the forty monks of the monastery shall come and try to lift her from the grave. If they succeed, then she died a Nazarene ; if not, one of us shall come and lift her up and if she be lifted by him, she died a Moslemah.'

The villagers agreed to this and fetched the forty monks, who heartened one another, and came to her to lift her, but could not. Then we tied a great rope round her middle and haled at it; but the rope broke in sunder , and she stirred not; and the villagers came and did the like, but could not move her from her place.

At last, when all means failed, we said to one of the two Shaykhs, 'Come and lift her.'

So he went up to the grave and, covering her with his mantle , said, 'In the name of Allah the Compassionating, the Compassionate, and of the Faith of the Apostle of Allah, on whom be prayers and peace!' Then he lifted her and, taking her in his bosom , betook himself with her to a cave hard by, where they laid her, and the two women came and washed her and shrouded her. Then the two elders bore her to her Moslem lover's grave and prayed over her and buried her by his side and went their ways.

Now we were eye witnesses of all this; and, when we were alone with one another, we said, 'In sooth , the truth is most worthy to be followed;' and indeed the truth has been made manifest to us, nor is there a proof more patent of the truth of al-Islam than that we have seen this day with our eyes.'

So I and all the monks became Moslems and likewise did the villagers; and we sent to the people of Mesopotamia for a doctor ofthe law, to instruct us in the ordinances of al-Islam and the canons of the Faith. They sent us a learned man and a pious, who taught us the rites of prayer and the tenets of the faith; and we are now in ease abounding ; so to Allah be the praise and the thanks!"

Excerpt: "Profession of Faith"

Ye, who seek for pious   fame,And that light should gild   your name,Be this duty ne'er   forgot—Love your neighbor—harm him not.To Thee, Great Spirit, I appeal,Who can'st the gates of truth unseal;I follow none, nor ask the wayOf men who go, like me, astray  ;They perish  , but Thou can'st not die,But liv'st to all eternity.Such is vain   man's uncertain state,A little makes him base   or great;One hand shall hold the Koran  's scroll  ,The other raise the sparkling bowl—One saves, and one condemns   the soul.The temple I frequent is high,A turkish-vaulted dome—the sky,That spans the world with majesty.Not quite a Muslim is my creed  ,Nor quite a Giaour  ; my faith indeedMay startle some who hear me say,I'd give my pilgrim staff away,And sell my turban  , for an hourOf music in a fair one's bower  .I'd sell the rosary   for wine,Though holy names around it twine  .

And prayers the pious make so longAre turned by me to joyous song;Or, if a prayer I should repeat,It is at my beloved's feet.They blame me that my words are clear;Because I am not what I appear;Nor do my acts my words belie  —At least, I shun   hypocrisy.It happened that but yesterdayI marked a potter   beating clay.The earth spoke out—"Why dost thou   strike?Both thou and I are born alike;Though some may sink and some may soar  ,We all are earth, and nothing more."

What happened next…

While the view of writers such as Omar Khayyam about religion and private faith was in the minority in the Middle Ages, such a perspective became more and more common after the age of the Crusades. The power of reason over faith, of objective thought over blind belief, increased through the centuries of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. A belief in science also competed against a belief in religions until, by the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche could declare, "God is dead." However, science and industrial progress came into question in the twentieth century, a time that suffered from the threat of global destruction from atomic and hydrogen bombs and from pollution, all the by-products of science and rationalism. In the twenty-first century, religion is once again on the rise in many countries, with nineteen major religions and two hundred and seventy different identified large religious groups. Only about 13 percent of the world's population identified itself as nonreligious in the year 2000, according to one study. With this return to religion comes, unfortunately, the concept of holy war, which is once again a fact of life.

Did you know…

• Because of the prohibition of translating the Koran, it has become one of the widest-read books in its original language, rivaling even blockbuster novels of the modern day.

Too Earthy for Publication

Both the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and the Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night gained their most important translations by nineteenth-century Englishmen. Edward Fitzgerald (1809–83), lived a secluded and private life in the English countryside. His first translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam appeared in 1859; with later editions supported by famous poets and artists of the day, the book became an instant classic, appealing to the Victorian, or late-nineteenth-century, English taste with its advice that humankind should live life to the fullest, for we do not know what to expect after death.

Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator of The Arabian Nights, was born in 1820 and died in 1890. He was, however, a polar opposite to Fitzgerald, leading an exciting, adventurous life, exploring in Africa and South America. An expert in many languages, he was also a busy writer. Late in life he took on the translation of the Arabian Nights, which he published in sixteen volumes in 1885.

Both of these books deal with earthy themes: drinking, making love, and generally having the type of fun that was not always considered proper. Many of the poems and tales of both books were hidden away until the twentieth century. Some critics still complain that parts of the Rubaiyat and of the Arabian Nights, are not fit for children to read. Others say that the content of the English editions of these books owe as much to the outlook of their translators as they do to the original author or authors.

• Modern Islam now has 1.2 billion worshippers worldwide, or about one-fifth of the world's population. Christianity, at the same time, has more than two billion followers, representing about a third of the global population. Amazingly, Christians are divided into about thirty-four thousand separate groups.
• Performing miracles, such as that of the Holy Fire, or Holy Light, in Jerusalem, is required for a person to become a saint in the Catholic Church. The first step is beatification, in which a person is called "blessed" by the church. To be beatified, two miracles associated with that person must be proved by the church. The next step is canonization, or becoming a saint. This process used to be like a trial, in which the person proposed for sainthood had his or her life looked into thoroughly. But without miracles, there would be no saints.
• The organizing device or trick of The Arabian Nights is that all the stories are told by Scheherezade, or Sheherazade, to keep her husband, King Shahryar (or Schriyar), from killing her. So she must entertain him with a story each night for one thousand and one nights.
• Conversion, or changing religions, as seen in "The Prior Who Became a Moslem," did not always happen as a result of an honest change of faith. During the time of the Crusades, prisoners of one side or another could buy their freedom by converting to one religion or another. The most famous attempted conversion during the Crusades was that of the Egyptian sultan al-Malik al-Kamil by Saint Francis of Assisi during the Fifth Crusade in 1219. Francis went to Egypt hoping to end the fighting by persuading the sultan to become a Christian. Instead, Francis had a month-long discussion with the sultan, during which the sultan tried to get Francis to convert to Islam.

Consider the following…

• Discuss some of the similarities and differences between Christianity and the Muslim faith.
• How is the personal faith of Omar Khayyam, as shown in the excerpted poem, different from that of formal religions?
• Explain the effect the Crusades had on modern relations between the West and the Middle East.

Vouchsafed: Granted, allowed.

Holy Ghost: Also known as the Holy Spirit.

Kindles: Lights, sets ablaze.

Divine: Godly.

Holy Friday: The Friday before Easter Sunday, also called Good Friday.

Vespers: Evening prayer.

Wicks: The strips of material that burn in a candle or oil lamp.

Affix: Fasten, attach.

Extinguish: Put out.

Dost Thou: Do you.

Abbot: The head of a religious abbey or institution for monks.

Retainers: Servants.

Penitence: Regret for a sin.

Pious: Very religious.

Cell: Simple lodging for a monk.

Morrow: Next day.

Turmoil: Disturbance, confusion.

Suffocated: Choked from a lack of air.

Tapers: Candles.

Suite: Attendants or followers.

Golgotha: The place where Christ was crucified.

Torrents: Fast-moving streams of water.

Weeping: Crying.

Ruddy: Reddish.

Cinnabar: A bright red mineral.

Kyrie Eleison: Greek for "Lord have mercy," a prayer said at a Catholic mass or religious service.

Prior: Church official or elder.

Monkery: Another word for monastery.

Diligence: Care.

Adoration: Worshiping.

Circumambulating: Walking around.

Compassing: Going around.

Ka'abah: The central stone structure of the Great Mosque or church in Mecca.

Shavelings: Persons with a shaved head for religious purposes.

Accosted: Greeted.

Therewith: After that.

Verily: Truly.

Befell: Happened.

Moslem: Muslim.

Devotees: Believers.

Damsel: Young woman.

Fairest: Prettiest.

Revived: Recovered.

Chided: Scolded.

Exhorted: Encouraged.

Heed: Attention.

Abode: Stayed; remained.

Acquainted: Told, made familiar with.

Slay: Kill.

Prostrate: Stretched out with the face down.

Lust: Passion.

Forthwith: Immediately.

Countenance: Face, features.

Pelt: Hit.

Koran: Muslim holy book.

Sallied Forth: Set out or moved quickly.

Without: Outside.

Pavilions: Decorative summerhouses or structures open to the air.

Fared Forth: Traveled or went out.

Savour: Flavor.

Haply: By chance.

Seduce: Lead in the wrong direction.

Abstained: Refused to do something.

Morrow: The next day.

Clad: Dressed.

Moslemah: Muslim woman.

In Lieu: Instead.

Rejoined: Replied.

Nay: No.

Shaykhs: Arab or Muslim leaders, also spelled sheikh.

Nazarene: A Christian.

Haled: Pulled.

In Sunder: In pieces.

Mantle: Coat or cloak.

Bosom: Chest.

Betook: Went to.

Shrouded: Wrapped for burial.

In Sooth: Truly.

Manifest: Clear, evident.

Patent: Recognizable, obvious.

Al-Islam: The Islamic faith.

Mesopotamia: Modern-day Iraq.

Ordinances: Laws.

Canons: Major principles or laws of a religion.

Tenets: Central beliefs.

Abounding: Having in large numbers.

Pious: Devoutly religious.

Gild: To apply a thin gold covering.

Ne'er: Never.

Astray: On the wrong path or direction.

Perish: Die.

Vain: Being concerned with appearances.

Base: Without principles or morals.

Koran: Islamic holy book.

Scroll: A roll of paper with printing on it.

Condemns: Finds guilty or unfit.

Creed: Belief.

Giaour: A non-Muslim, especially a Christian.

Turban: A Muslim headdress.

Bower: A comfortable, shady place under a tree.

Rosary: In the Catholic faith, a string of beads for counting prayers.

Twine: Interlace, twist.

Belie: Show to be false.

Shun: Ignore, reject.

Potter: A person who makes clay pots.

Dost Thou: Do you.

Soar: Fly up high in the air.

For More Information

Books

Abbot Daniel. The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land, 1106–1107. Edited by C. W. Wilson. London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1888.

Burton, Sir Richard Francis. Arabian Nights. Edited by Bennet Cerf. New York: Random House/Modern Library, 1997.

Horne, Charles F., ed. The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East. New York: Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb, 1917.

The Koran. Translated by N. J. Dawood. London: Penguin Books, 1990.

Web Sites

Abbot Daniel. "The Holy Light; How It Descends upon the Holy Sepulchre." The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land 1106–1107 A.D.http://www.holyfire.org/eng/doc_Daniil.htm (accessed on August 4, 2004).

"Alf Layla wa Layla (A Thousand Nights and a Night)." Electronic Literature Foundation.http://www.arabiannights.org/index2.html (accessed on August 4, 2004).

"Islam during the Crusades." The ORB: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies.http://the-orb.net/textbooks/crusade/islam.html (accessed on August 4, 2004).

Omar Khayyam. "Profession of Faith, c. 1120." Internet Medieval Sourcebook.http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/omarkhayyam-faith.html (accessed August 4, 2004).

"The Prior Who Became a Moslem." The Arabian Nights: Excerpts from Tales on Christianity and the Crusades.http://ksumail.kennesaw.edu/~bstevens/Burton.html (accessed on August 4, 2004).