474 APPENDIX. 
and as Pontiffs. It is therefore among the Sheeas only that the fate 
of Alii and his offspring is commemorated. 
The feeble administration of Othman, which terminated in 
his assassination, had encouraged numerous insurrections, which 
his successor Alii was employed in quelling, when his attention 
and his arms were attracted by a more formidable adversary; 
Moveeyah, the Governor of Syria, who had assumed the title of 
Caliph, and who, after a long and obstinate contest, * which ceased 
with the murder of AUi, and the voluntary abdication of his eldest 
son Hassan, succeeded to the throne. His son and successor Yezeed, 
jealous of the superior title of Hassan, who had retired to Medina, 
instructed the Governor of that place to put him to death; and he 
was accordingly carried off, (as the Mohammedans relate) by 
pounded diamonds infused into his beverage through the treachery 
of his wife. The remaining son of Alii, Hosein, encouraged to 
assert his title by information secretly conveyed to him, that a 
numerous body of Mussulmauns at Cufa were prepared to support 
his cause, and would join him on his approach, unadvisedly re- 
paired with such followers as he could collect, to that city. But 
this was a stratagem on the part of Yezeed for the destruction of 
his rival; who, 'ere reaching the plain ofKerbullaw, was surrounded 
and attacked by the troops of the usurper, and with the enthu- 
siastic order of self devoted martyrs, Hosein and all his family 
maintained the combat, until every individual (one of his sons 
* The prowess of Alii during the contest, in which it is said he was engaged in 
seventy-two battles, and the cause in which he fought, obtained him the appellation 
of the Lion of God and contributed equally with his illustrious descent to the 
veneration in which he is held by his modern votaries. 
