ARABIA. 
purpofe to raife Telba to the dignity of khalif, and now, 
finding Ali unanimoufly cliofen, rel'olved to deftroy him 
alfo. She therefore pretended great concern for the death 
of the late khalif, and accufed Ali of being his murderer: 
but, being reproved by one of the Moderns for endeavour¬ 
ing to blacken an innocent perfon, when fhe could not but 
know herfelf guilty, die replied, that Othman’s infidelity 
had indeed made her his enemy, but that die had forgiven 
him upon his repentance. At the time of All’s inaugu¬ 
ration the was at Mecca, where die enjoyed a very confi- 
derable fhare of influence and authority. At her infliga- 
tion, Telha Ebn Obeidallah, and Zobeir Ebn A 1 Awam, 
began to reprefent to Ali, that the murderers of Otliman 
ought to be brought to condign punidiment; offering tliem- 
felves at the fame time for that purpofe. This they did 
merely to fow difi’ention, for they thcmfelves had been 
deeply concerned in the murder; and Ali, fufiiciently aware 
of their intention, told them it was impoflible till the em¬ 
pire fliould be more fettled. Finding themfelves difap- 
pointed in this attempt, they next begged the government 
of Cufa and Bafra, that they might w ith greater facility 
extinguifli any rebellion that fliould happen. Here again 
Ali was aware of their intention ; and refufed their requeft, 
under pretence that he flood in need of perfons of their 
great capacity, as counfellors, about his perfon. Then 
they defired leave to perform a pilgriihage to Mecca, which 
the khalif could not ref life; and they w : ere no fooner got 
there, than they openly railed an army againft him, with¬ 
out any provocation at all. 
This, however, was not the only fource of difeord. Ali 
had been difpleafed with the governors of provinces ap¬ 
pointed by Otliman ; and therefore difmiffed them imme¬ 
diately after his accellion. This was very impolitic ; but 
lie was prompted to it by that rafhnefs and want of pru¬ 
dence which is infeparable from, or rather is the very ef- 
fence of, great courage. The confequence of this was, 
that Moawiyah, governor of Syria, was, immediately upon 
his difmiflion by Ali, proclaimed khalif by the troops un¬ 
der his command. Thus the Modems were divided into 
two factions ; the one under Moawiyah and Ayeflia, who 
adhered to the lioufe of Ommiyah, to which Otliman and 
Moawiyah belonged ; and the other to Ali. The adherents 
of the lioufe of Ommiyah were called Motazalitcs , or fepa- 
ratijls. 
Ali, finding how matters were fituated, and that a very 
ftrong party was formed againft him, endeavoured to in¬ 
gratiate himfelf as much as polfible with the Koreidi; and 
to raife an army againft Ayeftia, who had now taken the 
field, and even reduced the city of Bafra. He made an 
animated fpeech to the people on hearing this had news, 
and defired their adjftance. But though he was very much 
beloved on account of his perfonal merit, and was the bed; 
orator of the age, he could not with all his eloquence pre¬ 
vail upon them to give a decifive anfwer in his favour. At 
Jaft Ziyad Ebn Hantelah ftepped up to Ali, and faid, 
** Whofoever retreats, we will advance,” Upon this, two 
unfars , doflors of the law, flood up, and pronounced Ali 
innocent of the death of Otliman ; which decifion foon in¬ 
duced the anfars and the body of the people to efpoufe his 
caufe. He then left Medina at the head of 900 men, and 
advanced to Arjabah, where he was joined by feveral other 
parties. From this place he wrote to the people of Cufa 
and Medina, prefllng them to fend him farther afliftance, 
and to difpofe the Motazalites to an accommodation. From 
Medina he recsived a large fupply of horfes, arms, and 
other neeeflaries ; and from Cufa he obtained a reinforce,, 
nient of 8000 men. Encouraged by this feafonable fupply, 
Ali advanced towards Bafra, where the troops of Ayeftia 
were ready to receive him. Both parties feemed averfe to 
an engagement; and Ayeftia was very much intimidated at 
the fight of Ali’s army, which, neverthel.efs, was inferior 
to her own. A battle at laft commenced, in which Ayeftia 
was defeated and taken prifoner. The only remarkable 
effort made by the troops of Ayeflia, was in defence of her 
perfon : it is faid, that feventy men, who held her camel 
* V01,. II. No. 54. 
by the bridle, had their hands cut off fuCceflively ■; and 
that the pavilion in which die fat was fo full of darts and 
arrows, that it refembled a porcupine. Ayedia was treated 
very kindly by Ali, who at firft let her at liberty, but af¬ 
terwards confined her to her lioufe at Medina, and com¬ 
manded her to interfere no more with ftate-aftairs, though 
he ftill allowed her to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. 
After this victory, Ali had no enemies to contend with 
either in Arabia, Irak, Egypt, Perfia, or Khorafan. A 
ftrong party, however, ftill remained in Syria, headed by 
Moawiyah, who founded his claims to the klialifate on a 
pretended declaration of Otliman that lie fliould be his fuc- 
cefl’or. In this defection he was joined by Amru Ebn A 1 
As, who had obtained a promife of the government of 
Egypt, provided Moawiyah could be advanced to the dig¬ 
nity of khalif. Ali, with his nfual good nature, endea¬ 
voured to bring tliefe rebels to a fenfe of their duty, and 
often fent propofals of accommodation to Moawiyah ; but 
he ftill remained inflexible. Perceiving, therefore, that it 
would be neceffary to invade Syria, he entered that coun^ 
try with an army of 90,000 men; while Moawiyah’s con¬ 
fided of 120,000. The two armies came in fight of each 
other towards the clofe of the 36th year of the Hegira, 
when only fome fleir mi flies happened between them, where¬ 
in neithar party fuftained any confiderable lofs.. The firft 
month of the 37th year was fpent in fruitlefs negociations; 
but in the fecond month they began to fight in different- 
parties, without hazarding a general engagement. Thefe 
battles continued until Moawiyah’s lofs amounted to 45,000 
men, and Ali’s to 23,000; among whom were twenty-fix 
who had been intimate friends of Mahomet himfelf, and 
were dignified with tiie title of the Companions. The moft 
famous of tliefe was Animar Ebn Yafer, Ali’s general of 
liorfe, who was upwards of ninety years of age, and was 
highly efteemed by both parties. This lofs fo exafperated. 
Ali, that lie charged the Syrians with great fury, broke 
them, and challenged Moawiyah to fight him in tingle 
combat. This challenge Moawiyah declined, infilling that 
it was not a fair one, as Ali could not but be fen/ible of 
his fuperiority in ftrengtli. As the challenge was given in 
the hearing of both armies, Amru infilled that Moawiyah 
could not in honour refufe it; but the coward made no 
other reply than that Amru afpired to the klialifate him¬ 
felf, and wanted to enjoy it after his death. The battle 
being now renewed, Moawiyah’s forces were puflied to 
their camp ; which certainly had been taken, had not Amru 
bethought himfelf of the following flratagrm : He or¬ 
dered fome of his men to fix copies of the Koran to the 
points of their lances, and carry them to the front of the 
battle, crying out at the fame time, This is the book 
that ought to decide all differences between us; this is 
the book of God between 11s and you, that abfolutely pro¬ 
hibits the effufion of Modem blood.” This produced ffife 
defired effect. The khalif’s troops threw down their arms, 
and even threatened him with death if he did not found a 
retreat; which he therefore was obliged to do, and thus 
had a decifive victory wrefted out of his hands. 
According to this new mode of decifjpn, the two pai^ 
ties were each to choofe their arbitrator; but even this wg 
not allowed to Ali, though Moawiyah had liberty to choofe 
Amru Ebn A 1 As. The troops of Irak, not content with 
offering fo grofs an affront to the khalif, infilled on naming 
for his arbitrator Abu Mul'a A 1 Afliayi; a very weak man, 
and one who had already betrayed him. Theopnfeqtienee 
of this appointment was, that Ali was deputed by both 
thp arbitrators ; and he accordingly dropped his title to the 
klialifate, but without putting himfelf in Moawiyah’s 
power, He retired to Cufa; where 12,000 of the troops 
that had forced him to accept of the arbitration, pretend¬ 
ing to be offended with the ffep he had taken, revolted 
from him. Tliefe were'called’ Kfiqrejitcs, that is, rebels or 
revolters; and Mokakkemites, or'judiciarians, becaufe they 
affirmed that Ali had referred to the judgment of men what 
ought to have been only referred to the j udgment of God ; 
and, therefore, that, infte a A o f keeping the peaqe he had 
