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CHAP. accepted the government; nor was it till after the third caliph, twenty-four years after the death of the prophet, that Ali was invested, by the popular choice, with the regal and sacerdotal office. The manners of the Arabians re tained their primitive simplicity, and the son of Abu Taleb despised the pomp and vanity of this world. At the hour of prayer, he repaired to the mosch of Medina, clothed in a thin cotton gown, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff. The companions of the prophet aud the chiefs of the tribes saluted their new sovereign, and gave him their right hands as a sign of fealty and allegiance.

D'scord of

and Per

sians.

The mischiefs that flow from the contests of the Turks ambition are usually confined to the times and countries in which they have been agitated. But the religious discord of the friends and enemies of Ali has been renewed in every age of the Hegira, and is still maintained in the immortal hatred of the Persians and Turks.* The former, who are branded with the appellation of Shiites or sectaries, have enriched the Mahometan creed with a new article of faith; and if Mahomet be the apostle, his companion Ali is the vicar, of God. In their private converse, in their public worship, they bitterly execrate

* The schism of the Persians is explained by all our travellers of the last century, especially in the iid and ivth volumes of their master Chardin. Niebuhr, though of inferior merit, has the advantage of writing so late as the year 1764, (Voyages cu Arabie, &c. tom. ii, p. 208233), since the ineffectual attempt of Nadir Shah to change the religion of the nation, (see his Persian History translated into French by Sir William Jones, tom. ii, p. 5, 6, 47, 48, 144-155).

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the three usurpers who intercepted his inde- CHAP. feasible right to the dignity of imam and caliph; and the name Omar expresses in their tongue the perfect accomplishment of wickedness and impiety.' The Sonnites, who are supported by the general consent and orthodox tradition of the Mussulmans, entertain a more impartial, or at least a more decent, opinion. They respect the memory of Abubeker, Omar, Othman, and Ali, the holy and legitimate successors of the prophet. But they assign the last and most humble place to the husband of Fatima, in the persuasion that the order of succession was determined by the degrees of sanctity." An historian who balances the four caliphs with a hand unshaken by superstition will calmly pronounce, that their manners were alike pure and exemplary; that their zeal was fervent, and probably sincere ; and that, in the midst of riches and power, their lives were devoted to the practice of moral and religious duties. But the public virtues of Abubeker and Omar, the prudence of the first, the severity of the second, maintained the peace and prosperity of their reigns. The feeble temper and declining

Omar is the name of the devil; his murderer is a saint. When the Persians shoot with the bow, they frequently cry,-" May this arrow go to the heart of Omar!" (Voyages de Chardin, tom. ii, p. 239, 240, 259, &c.).

m This gradation of merit is distinctly marked in a creed illustrated by Reland, (de Relig Mohamm. 1. i, p. 37): and a Sonnite argument inserted by Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, tom. ii, p. 23b). The practice of cursing the memory of Ali was abolished, after forty years, by the Ommiades themselves, (d'Herbelot, p. 690); and there are few among the Turks who presume to revile him as an infidel, (Voyages de Chardin, tom iv, p. 46).

CHAP
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age of Othman were incapable of sustaining the
weight of conquest and empire. He chose, and
he was deceived; he trusted, and he was be-
trayed; the most deserving of the faithful be-
came useless or hostile to his government, and
his lavish bounty was productive only of in-
gratitude and discontent. The spirit of discord
went forth in the provinces, their deputies as-
sembled at Medina, and the Charegites, the
desperate fanatics who disclaimed the yoke of
subordination and reason, were confounded
among the free-born Arabs, who demanded the
redress of their wrongs and the punishment of
their oppressors.
From Cufa, from Bassora,
from Egypt, from the tribes of the desert, they
rose in arms, encamped about a league from
Medina, and despatched an haughty mandate
to their sovereign, requiring him to execute
justice, or to descend from the throne.
repentance began to disarm and to disperse the
insurgents; but their fury was rekindled by
the arts of his enemies: and the forgery of a
perfidious secretary was contrived to blast his
reputation and precipitate his fall. The caliph
had lost the only guard of his predecessors, the
esteem and confidence of the Moslems: during
a siege of six weeks his water and provisions
were intercepted, and the feeble gates of the
palace were protected only by the scruples of
the more timorous rebels. Forsaken by those
who had abused his simplicity, the helpless and
venerable caliph expected the approach of
death the brother of Ayesha marched at the
head of the assassins; and Othman, with the

His

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Othman,

Koran in his lap, was pierced with a multitude CHAP. of wounds. A tumultuous anarchy of five days was appeased by the inauguration of Ali; his Death of refusal would have provoked a general massa- A. D. 655, cre. In this painful situation he supported the June 18. becoming pride of the chief of the Hashemites; declared that he had rather serve than reign: rebuked the presumption of the strangers; and required the formal, if not the voluntary, assent of the chiefs of the nation. He has never been accused of prompting the assassin of Omar; though Persia indiscreetly celebrates the festival of that holy martyr. The quarrel between Othman and his subjects was assuaged by the mediation of Ali: and Hassan, the eldest of his sons, was insulted and wounded in the defence of the caliph. Yet it is doubtful whether the father of Hassan was strenuous and sincere in his opposition to the rebels; and it is certain that he enjoyed the benefit of their crime. The temptation was indeed of such magnitude as might stagger and corrupt the most obdurate virtue. The ambitious candidate no longer aspired to the barren sceptre of Arabia: the Saracens had been victorious in the East and West; and the wealthy kingdoms of Persia, Syria, and Egypt, were the patrimony of the commander of the faithful.

655-660.

A life of prayer and contemplation had not Reign of chilled the martial activity of Ali; but in a ma- Ali, A. D, ture age, after a long experience of mankind, he still betrayed in his conduct the rashness and indiscretion of youth. In the first days of his reigu, he neglected to secure, either by gifts or

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CHAP. fetters, the doubtful allegiance of Telha and Zobeir, two of the most powerful of the Arabian chiefs. They escaped from Medina to Mecca, and from thence to Bassora; erected the standard of revolt, and usurped the government of Irak, or Assyria, which they had vainly solicited as the reward of their services. The mask of patriotism is allowed to cover the most glaring inconsistencies; and the enemies, perhaps the assassins, of Othman now demanded vengeance for his blood. They were accompanied in their flight by Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, who cherished, to the last hour of her life, an implacable hatred against the husband and the posterity of Fatima. The most reasonable Moslems were scandalized, that the mother of the faithful should expose in a camp her person and character; but the superstitious crowd was confident that her presence would sanctify the justice, and assure the success of their cause. At the head of twenty thousand of his loyal Arabs, and nine thousand valiant auxiliaries of Cufa, the caliph encountered and defeated the superior numbers of the rebels under the walls of Bassora. Their leaders, Telha and Zobeir, were slain in the first battle that stained with civil blood the arms of the Moslems. After passing through the ranks to animate the troops, Ayesha had chosen her post amidst the dangers of the field. In the heat of the action, seventy men, who held the bridle of her camel, were successively killed or wounded; and the cage or litter in which she sat, was stuck with javelins and