14 A R A 
made with Ivloawiyah, he ought to have purfued his ene¬ 
mies, who were likewise the enemies of God. AH faid, 
That, as lie had given his word, he ought to keep it; and, 
in fo doing, he only followed what was prefcribed by the 
law of Mahomet. The Kharejites contended, That God 
was the only judge between him and Moawiyah, and that 
confequently he had committed an enormous fin, of which 
he ought fincerely to repent. AH replied, That, if any fin 
had been committed on this occafion, it was by themfelves, 
who had forced him to take the fteps of which they now- 
complained. Irritated by this anfwer, theychofe for their 
general Abdallah Ebn Waheb, who appointed for their 
rendezvous Naharwan, a town fituate between Wafet and 
Bagdat, where they aflembled an army of 25,000 men. 
Ali, having tried gentle methods ineffectually, at laft 
marched againft them in perfon. Before he attacked them, 
however, he planted a ftandard without the camp, and 
made proclamation, that whoever would repair to it (hould 
have quarter, and whoever would retire to Cufa fiiould 
find an afylum there. This had fuch an effeft, that Ab¬ 
dallah’s army was foon reduced to 4000 men, with whom 
he rulhed upon the khalif’s forces, but nearly all of them 
were cut in pieces. 
Had AH marched againft Moawiyah immediately after 
the defeat of the Kharejites, he had probably reduced him 
entirely : but, by allowing his troops to remain inactive, 
they deferted him, and Moawiyah’s party had an oppor¬ 
tunity of gathering rhore firength ; and though Moawiyah 
often made incurfions into the territories of AH, he now 
chofe to aft only on the defenfive. At laft the Kharejites, 
imagining that it would be for the good of the Mollem af¬ 
fairs that Moawiyah, Ali, and Antru, were dead, difpatch- 
ed affaffins to murder all three. Moawiyah was wounded, 
but recovered ; Antru’s fecretary was killed by miftake; 
but Ali was wounded with a poifoned fword, which op* 
cafioned his death. The affaffin was taken, and Ali would 
have pardoned him had he recovered, but ordered him to 
be put to death if he died, that he might, as he faid, 
*' have an immediate opportunity of accuiing him before 
God.” Even in this he manifelled his ufual clemency, 
by ordering the afTafiin to be dil'patched at one blow, and 
without torture of any kind. 
Thus fell Ali, the mod virtuous of all the Mahometan 
khalifs, after he had reigned near five years, and lived 
fixty-three. He was prelled by thole about him to nomi¬ 
nate a fucceffor; but this he declined, faying, he would 
follow the example of the Apoftle of God, who had not 
named any: and, as his fon Hafan inherited his father’s 
piety, though not his courage, he was declared khalif 
without any oppofition. Moawiyah, however, behaved in 
fuch a manner towards him, as betrayed his holtile inten¬ 
sions ; and thofe about Hafan prefTed him to declare war 
immediately. Hafan, who was of a mild and peaceable 
difpofition, could hardly be perfuaded to do tins; and, 
though he at lalt took the field, yet he immediately per¬ 
ceived his incapacity to difpute the empire with Moawi¬ 
yah ; and therefore refigned it, in l'piterbf all the remon- 
ilrances of his friends, to a traitor, who caufed him after 
fbme years to be poifoned by his wife. 
Moawiyah, on becoming mailer of the Modem empire, 
found himfelf under a necefiity of reducing the Kharejites, 
who were his enemies, and had raifed a confiderable army. 
To oppofe thefe rebels, the khalif would have difpatched 
Hafan, but, that prince refilling, he fent the Syrian troops 
againft them, who were defeated: however the Cufans, 
being at lalt perfuaded to take up arms, foon extinguilhed 
She rebellion, and fettled Moawiyah firmly on the Modem 
throne. In the 48th year of the Hegira, Moawiyah fent 
his fon Yezid with a powerful army to befiege Conftanti- 
nople. In this expedition he was attended by three or 
four of the Companions, who, notwithftanding their age, 
were prompted by zeal to undergo incredible fatigues. 
Concerning the particulars of this expedition we are in the 
dark: only that it proved unfuccefsful; and in it Abu 
Ayub, wflo had fought by Maftmet at the battles ofhedi' 
B I A. 
and Ohod, loft his life. His tomb is held in fuch vene* 
ration by the Modems, that the fultans of the Ottoman 
family gird their fwords on before it, on their acceilion to 
the throne. In the 54th year of the Hegira, the Arabs 
made an irruption into Bukharia, and defeated a Ttirkilh 
army that oppofed them. The Turks loft a great number 
of men; and the queen, who commanded in perfon, with 
great difficulty made her efcape. She had only time to 
put on one of her bulkins; the other fell into the hands' 
of the Arabs, w-ho valued it at no lefs than 2000 dinars. 
About this time alfo, according to the Greek hiftorians, a 
treaty was concluded between the emperor and the Mol- 
lems, w’hereby the latter were allowed to keep the terri¬ 
tories they had feized; in coniideration of which they were 
to pay 3000 pounds weight of gold, fifty daves, and as 
many horfes. To thefe diffionourable conditions they were 
obliged to fubmit, in confequence of their unfuccefsful 
expedition to Conftantinople, and fome other defeats they 
had received. This peace was to continue for thirty years. 
The next year, Moawiyah, having conferred the govern¬ 
ment of Khorafan upon Saad, Othman’s grandfon, that 
general palfed the Jihun, or Amu, the Oxus of the ancients, 
and advanced with a body of troops to Samarcand, which 
opened its gates to him on his approach; foon after which 
he defeated an army of Ulbeck Tartars, and marched di- 
re6lly to Tarrnub, which alfo furrendered without oppo¬ 
fition. The 57th year of the Hegira was remarkable for 
vaft fwarms of locufts, which did incredible damage in 
Syria and Mefopotamia : and great difcontents on account 
of the khalif’s having nominated for his fuccelfor his fon 
Yezid, a perfon of fcandalous life, and unw'orthy of the 
throne. The 58th year of the Hegira was diftinguifhed 
by the death of Ayeffia, Mahomet’s widow ; and the 60th 
by that of Moawiyah, after having reigned, from Hafan’s 
refignation, nineteen years, three months, and five days; 
but concerning his age authors are not agreed. He was 
interred at Damafcus, which was made the refidence of 
the khalifs as long as the houfe of Ommiyah continued on 
the throne. » 
Yezid was proclaimed, in confequence of his nomina¬ 
tion, the fame day his father died. His inauguration was 
performed on the new moon of the month Rajeb, corre- 
fponding to April 7, 680. Immediately after his election, 
he Wrote to A 1 Walid, governor of Medina, tofeizeHo- 
fein, the remaining fon of Ali, and Abdallah Ebn Zobeir, 
in cafe they refufed to acknowledge his right. He accor¬ 
dingly tendered the oath of allegiance to Hofein, whore- 
turned an evafive anfwer, and found means to efcape. As 
for Abdallah, he delayed, under various pretences, for 
twenty-four hours, and then made his efcape to Mecca, 
Hither Hofein followed him; but received an invitation 
from the people of Cufa, who proriiifed to affift him in 
vindicating the rights of his father Ali and himfelf. In 
the mean time, Yezid, being informed of Al Walid’s 
negligence in fuflering Abdallah and Hofein to efcape, fu- 
perfeded him, appointing in his room Amru Ebn Saad, 
at that time commandant of Mecca. The new governor 
difpatched againft Abdallah, Amer Ebn Zobeir, Abdal¬ 
lah’s own brother, who mortally hated him: but Abdal¬ 
lah, having engaged Amer in the field, defeated and took 
him prifoner, which greatly raifed his reputation at Medina. 
While Abdallah was thus ftrengthening himfelf at Mecca 
and Medina, Hofein was doing the fame at Cufa. On the 
fir'll notice of their inclinations, he had fent to them Mo- 
flem Ebn Okail, to whom, as reprefentative of the fon of 
AH, they had taken an oath of allegiance, and w-ere now 
very preffing on Hofein to honour their city with his pre¬ 
fence. Befides this, Hofein was fupported by the forces 
of Irak, who retained a great veneration for the memory 
of his father, and had all along confidered the government 
of Moawiyah as an ufurpation. Notw-ithftanding thefe 
fteps in favour of Hofein, the deliberations of the conlpi- 
rators were carried on with fuch fecrecy, that AlNooman 
the governor was a ftranger to them, even after the Cu¬ 
fans had determined to enter upon attion with an army of 
18,000 
