into eternal beatitude, shared with its peers, continues along
with them to exercise a certain influence on terrestrial souls. The
object of prayer for the dead and visiting their tombs is to beg for the
help of those pure souls, a help which is realised sometimes in a
material, sometimes in a spiritual way. The former kind of help may be
compared with the direction which the body receives from the brain;
spiritual assistance is realised by the purification of the mind from
every thought but that of God."

Avicenna, after his liberation from imprisonment by Ala-ed-Dowla, being
anxious to quit Hamadan, left the city secretly with his brother, his
disciple Joujani and two servants, all five disguised as Sufis. After a
painful journey they reached Ispahan, where they were received in a
friendly manner by Ala-ed-Dowla. Avicenna here continued to hold
philosophical discussions as he had done at Hamadan. At Ispahan he also
composed two of his most important works, the "Shifa" and the "Najat,"
treating of medicine. Later on he followed Ala-ed-Dowla to Bagdad, but
on the way was seized with a gastric malady, accompanied by an attack of
apoplexy. He recovered at the time, but not long afterwards the sickness
returned, and he died at the age of 57, A.D. 1037.

In his Literary History of Persia (vo. II., p. 108) Professor Browne
points out that one of the most celebrated stanzas in Fitzgerald's
translation of Omar Khayyam was really composed by Avicenna:--

"Up from earth's centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose, and on the throne of Saturn sate,
And many a knot unravelled by the road,
But not the master-knot of human fate."

Another interesting link between the two philosophers is supplied by the
fact, mentioned by Professor Browne, that a few days before his death
Omar Khayyam was reading in the "Shifa" of Avicenna the chapter treating
of the One and of the Many.

[35] The bad companions of man which hinder his intellectual
progress are unregulated imagination, irascibility and carnal
concupiscence. Death alone delivers him and transports him to the
celestial country of true repose.

[36] The flowing waters signify logic and metaphysics, which help
man to attain to the unknown. Because they provoke argument and
discussion, they are called "flowing." The stagnant pool
signifies positive science, which is the basis of philosophy. The
man who is refreshed by the flowing waters of philos