Talk:Three Schoolfellows

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Monkeysmashingkeyboards (talk) 17:41, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

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The Three Schoolfellows in Omar the Tentmaker

• ... that the tale of Three Schoolfellows, based on which the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, the revolutionary Hasan-i Sabbah, and the poet Omar Khayyam made a pact at school, may be (or inspired by) a true story?

• Source: Wasserman, James (14 September 2020). Hasan-i-Sabah: Assassin Master. Nicolas-Hays, Inc. p. 168-169. ISBN 978-0-89254-687-9. One modern Ismaili scholar and author , Ali Mohammad Rajput , accepts the story as likely true ... Harold Bowen wrote that it was possible the story of the Three Schoolfellows may have actually been derived from the relationship between Nizam and two other contemporaries

• • Reviewed:

Created by ZxxZxxZ (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 16 past nominations.

Z 17:05, 21 December 2025 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: - Not done
Overall: Hello ZxxZxxZ, happy to review this nomination. The article was created yesterday. It has a readable prose size of 2476 characters. Every paragraph in the body of the article has a reference. The text uses neutral language. WP:EARWIG shows no copyvios. The hook is cited and interesting. The picture is free, used in the article, and clear. QPQ has not yet been done.

The text has various language problems:

• bbrought
• FitzGerald"s
• Wasaya of Nizam al-Mulk,: end sentence with period
• at Nishapur.: "in Nishapur" sounds more natural.
• consider the story as a fable, : remove "as"
• and they residing in different location towns: I suggest replacing it with "and because they resided in different towns"
• Jawad al-Muscati consider the story a fabrication: replace "consider" with "considers"
• two times, the text refers to Hasan-i as Hassan

If we use a picture, the hook needs to include the expression (pictured). I think the hook is longer than it needs to be, what about condensing it to

• ALT1: ... the tale of Three Schoolfellows (pictured), which is about a pact between the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, the revolutionary Hasan-i Sabbah, and the poet Omar Khayyam, may be inspired by real events?

As I understand it, the picture is from the movie Omar the Tentmaker. Is this movie specifically intended as an adaptation of the story Three Schoolfellows? Phlsph7 (talk) 13:53, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

I do wonder if the hook could be further rewritten or shortened as the current version is quite long and hard to read. Regrettably this may involve deleting the mentions of the names. @ZxxZxxZ: Also, per WP:QPQ, you need to provide a QPQ as soon as possible; the nomination could be closed if one is not provided. I will give 24 hours for the QPQ to be provided, this will be closed if the deadline is not met. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 07:10, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

For QPQ, I am working on it: Template:Did you know nominations/Sulphur molly

For shortening the hook, I suggest:

ALT2: ... that the medieval Persian tale of a pact between three schoolfellows to share future power led to a deadly betrayal between a ruler and a revolutionary?

ALT3 (my preference): ... that according to a medieval tale, the most famous assassination by the Assassins was the result of a success-sharing pact between "Three Schoolfellows" going wrong?

Z 18:40, 24 December 2025 (UTC)

The movie is not specifically based on this story, but a distinct, fictional story. So I don't know if that scene actually depicts the pact. --Z 18:42, 24 December 2025 (UTC)

QPQ checks out. If the movie does not directly depict the tale, then it's probably better to not use the image. ALT2 seems to imply that the tale itself had real-life consequences. Is that certain? In ALT3, the term "the Assassins" has a specific meaning in this context but the reader does not know this, so it sounds like an awkward redundancy. Phlsph7 (talk) 10:51, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I have no informtaion about what the movie scene depicts exactly. The extent of real-life accuracy of the tale is uncertain. --Z 18:17, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

• @ZxxZxxZ and Phlsph7: What is the status of this nomination? Is this ready to be approved? If not, what else is needed? Z1720 (talk) 16:32, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

  @Z1720: It's not yet approved since we don't have a satisfactory hook. Phlsph7 (talk) 17:15, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

What about:

• ALT4: ... that the medieval Persian tale of a success-sharing pact between three schoolfellows ended with a deadly clash between a ruler and a revolutionary?

It explicitly calls it a tale, so I suppose the statement does not need to be historically accurate. --Z 18:14, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

I think ALT4 works well. Phlsph7 (talk) 11:27, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

'Revolutionary', really?

Sounds anachronistic. Did Hasan-i Sabbah want to replace the monarchy with a republic perchance? Change the mode of production? 'Revolutionary' is not just a grandiose-sounding epithet applicable to any rebel/insurrectionist. It's supposed to refer to someone aspiring to fundamental changes in the principles along which society and state are organised, not just to anyone fighting the existing government and trying to seize state power by force. ~2026-81635-9 (talk) 06:48, 18 February 2026 (UTC)