CALIPH. 



811 



insurrection in the year 654 (Heg. 34), which termin- 

 ated in his death. 



Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet by Fatima, be- 

 came the fourth caliph, by the choice of the people 

 of Medina, and is regarded as the first legitimate pos- 

 sessor of the dignity, by a numerous sect of Moham- 

 medans, which gives him and his son Hassan almost 

 equal honour with the prophet. This belief prevails 

 among the Persians ; whence arises the hatred in 

 which they are held by the Turks. Instead of being 

 able to continue the conquests of his predecessors, 

 Ali always had to contend with domestic enemies. 

 Among these was Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, 

 called the mother of the faithful ; also Tellah, Zobier, 

 and especially the powerful Moawiyah, governor of 

 Syria, who all laid claim to the government. These 

 were able to create suspicion, and spread the report 

 that Ali had instigated the murder of Othman. In 

 vain did he endeavour to repress the machinations 

 of his enemies, by intrusting the government of the 

 provinces to his friends. Nowhere were the new 

 governors received. The discontented collected an 

 army, and made themselves masters of Bassora. Ali 

 defeated it, and Tellah and Zobeir fell ; but he could 

 not prevent Moawiyah and his friend Amrou from 

 extending their party, and maintaining themselves in 

 Syria, Egypt, and even in a part of A/abia. Three 

 men of the sect of the Khoregites proposed to restore 

 concord among the faithful, by slaying each one of 

 the three heads of the parties, Ali, Moawiyah, and 

 Amrou ; but Ali only fell (A. D. 660, Heg. 40). He 

 was a man of a cultivated mind. The celebrated 

 moral maxims, and the Giafa, as it was termed, are 

 the most famous of his works. His son, the mild, 

 peaceful Hassan, had no desire to defend the caliphate 

 against the indefatigable Moawiyah ; but vainly did 

 he hope to obtain security by a solemn abdication of 

 the government. He perished by poison, said to 

 have been administered at the instigation of Moa- 

 wiyah. 



Moawiyah I. transferred the seat of the caliphate 

 from the city of the prophet, Medina, where it had 

 hitherto always been, to Damascus, in the province of 

 which he had formerly been governor (A. D. 673, 

 Heg. 54), With him began the series of the caliphs 

 called Ommiades, which name this family bore from 

 Moawiyah's progenitor, Ommiyah. Not long after 

 his accession, he was obliged to quell an insurrection 

 of the Khoregites by a campaign, and a rebellion at 

 Bassora, by severe punishments. He then seriously 

 meditated the entire subversion of the Byzantine em- 

 pire (q. v.). His son Jezid marched through Asia 

 Minor, meeting but little resistance ; then crossed the 

 Hellespont, and laid siege to Constantinople, but was 

 obliged to raise it (A. D. 669, Heg. 49). His general 

 Obeidah was more successful against the Turks in 

 Chorasan : he defeated them, and penetrated almost 

 into Turkestan (A. D. 673, Heg. 54). 



His son Jezid was not altogether a worthy succes- 

 sor of the politic Moawiyah (A. D. 679, Heg. 60). 

 At first, he was not acknowledged by the two holy 

 cities, Mecca and Medina, which, as long as the ca- 

 liphs had resided in the latter city, had enjoyed a 

 principal voice in their election, but which had not 

 been consulted when Moawiyah, according to the 

 custom of the caliphs, appointed his successor in his 

 lifetime. The discontented espoused the cause, either 

 of Houssain, the famous son of Ali, or of Abdallah, 

 Zobeir's son, both of whom had laid claim to the 

 crown. A rebellion of the inhabitants of Irak, in fa- 

 vour of Houssain, led by Moslem and Hanni, was 

 suppressed by the prudence and decision of Obeidal- 

 lah, governor of Cufa ; and Houssain, who had ac- 

 cepted the invitation of the conspirators, was killed 

 (A,D. 680, Heg. 61;, to the great dissatisfaction of 



the caliph, who sought to make reparation by acts of 

 beneficence towards the children of Houssain. Ab- 

 dallah Ehn Zobeir was recognized as caliph in Me- 

 dina, where Jezid was detested for his voluptuousness 

 and scepticism. On this account, Medina was invest- 

 ed, stormed, and sacked ; but Houssain's family, re- 

 siding there, was spared, at the express command of 

 the caliph. 



After Jezid's death (A. D. 683, Heg. 64), his son, 

 Moawiyah II., a pious youth of the sect of the Mota- 

 gelites (who rejected the fanaticism of the other Mo- 

 hammedans), voluntarily resigned the caliphate, after 

 a reign of a few months. As he had chosen no sue 

 cessor, anarchy prevailed. Obeidallah, governor of 

 Irak, sought to found a distinct empire in Bassora, but 

 was soon driven out by the inhabitants themselves, 

 who now, as well as all Irak, Hegiaz, Yemen, and 

 Egypt, acknowledged Abdallah Ebn Zobeir as caliph. 

 In Syria, Dehac, regent to Abdallah, was at first 

 chosen caliph ; but the people of Damascus appointed 

 Merwan I., of the race of the Ommiades, caliph, who 

 made himself master of all Syria and Egypt. Chor- 

 asan separated from the caliphate, and submitted to a 

 prince of its own choosing the noble Salem. In the 

 following year (A.D. 684, Heg. 65), Soliman Ebn 

 Sarad excited a great rebellion of the discontented in 

 Syria and Arabia, and pronounced both caliphs de- 

 posed, but was defeated by the experienced soldier 

 Obeidallah. Merwan had been compelled to pro- 

 mise, on oath, to leave the caliphate to Caled, the son 

 of Jezid ; yet he nominated his son Abdalmelek as 

 his successor. Under him (A. D. 684, Heg. 65), 

 Mokthar, a new rebel against both caliphs, was sub- 

 dued by one of them, Abdallah (A. D. 686, Heg. 

 67) ; but this only made Abdallah more formidable to 

 Abdalmelek, who, in order to be able to direct all his 

 forces against him, concluded a peace with the Greek 

 emperor, Justinian II., in which, reversing the order 

 of the Koran, he conceded to the Christians a yearly 

 tribute of 50,000 pieces of gold. He then marched 

 against Abdallah, defeated him twice, and took Mec- 

 ca by assault. In this last conflict, Abdallah fell. 

 Thus he united under his dominion all the Mussul- 

 mans ; but the resistance of the governors the curse 

 of all despotisms, and the symptom of the future dis- 

 solution of the caliphate kept him constantly oc- 

 cupied. He was the first caliph that caused money to 

 be coined. He died A. D. 705 (Heg. 86). 



Under Walid I., his son, the Arabs conquered, in 

 the East, Charasm and Turkestan (A. D. 707, Heg. 

 88) ; in the North, Galatia (A. D. 710) ; and, in the 

 West, Spain (A.D. 711). See Spain. He died in 

 716 (Heg. 97). His brother and successor besieged 

 Constantinople, but his fleet was twice destroyed by 

 tempests and the Greek fire. On the other hand, he 

 conquered Georgia. He died 718 (Heg. 99). 



Omar II., his successor by Soliman's last will, in- 

 curred the displeasure of the Ommiades by his indul- 

 gence towards the sect of Ali, and was poisoned by 

 them (A.D. 721, Heg. 102). Jezid II., his succes- 

 sor, also, by the disposition of Soliman, died of grief 

 for the loss of a female favourite, of whose death he 

 was the author (A. D. 723, Heg. 104). The Alide 

 /ciil, grandson of Houssain, now contested the cali- 

 phate with his brother Hescham. He was indeed 

 overpowered, and put to death ; but another house, 

 the Abbassides, descendants of Abbas, son of Abdal- 

 motaleb, uncle of the prophet, began to be formid- 

 able. Under Hescham, an end was put to the pro- 

 gress of the Saracens in the West, by the energy of 

 Charles Martel, who annihilated their armies at 

 Tours in 732, and at Narbonne in 736. The volup- 

 tuous Walid II. was murdered after a reign of one 

 year (A.D. 743, Heg. 124). 



After the equally nrief reigns of Jrzid III., and of 

 4x8 



