18 A R A 
lad, Abdallah having been deferted by mod of the inha¬ 
bitants of the place, and even by his two Cons, Hamza and 
Kobeib, defined to know his mother’s fentiments as to 
what co.urfe he ftiould take. He reprefented to her, that 
lie was almod entirely abandoned by his fubjeCts and re¬ 
lations ; that the few who perdded in their fidelity could 
fcarcely enable him to defend the city ; and that the Syrian 
fehalif would grant him any terms he diould think fit to 
demand. His mother inheriting an inflexible temper, and 
not able to bear the thoughts of feeing her fon reduced to 
the rank of a private perfon, being herfelf the daughter of 
Abu Beer the fird khalif, advifed him by no means to 
furvive the fovereignty, of which he was on the point of 
being deprived. This advice accorded with his own fen¬ 
timents, and he refolved nobly to die. After this, he de¬ 
fended the city, to the amazement of the befiegers, for ten 
days, though deditute of arms, troops, and fortifications. 
At lad, being animated by defpair, he rudied into the 
midd of the enemy, deftroyed a great number of them with 
his own hand, and was at length killed fighting valiantly 
for his crown. At the lad interview with his mother, die 
advifed him to put off his armour, that he might not lan¬ 
guid) by the accumulation of trifling wounds; and, to in- 
ipire him with greater fortitude, fhe gave him a draught 
in which a pound of mud; had been infilled. A 1 Hejaj or¬ 
dered his head to be cut off, and his body to be affixed to 
a crofs; and, by reafon of the mufk lie had drunk, the body 
emitted a grateful odour for feveral days. 
By the reduction of Mecca, and the death of Abdallah 
Ebn Zobeir, Abdalnialec remained foie matter of the Mo ('- 
lem empire ; but he fitftained a great lofs the next year, 
in having an army of 100,000 men totally cut off by the 
Khazarians in Armenia. The governor, however, having 
marched in perfon againft them at the head of only 40,000 
chofen troops, penetrated into the heart of Armenia, de¬ 
feated and difperfed a large body of the enemy, drove 
them into their temples, and then reduced them to afhes. 
One of his generals alfo defeated an army of 80,000 Kha¬ 
zarians at the Gafpian gates, deftroying a great number, 
and obliging the reff to embrace the Mahometan religion. 
Ad Hejaj, in confequence of thefe fervices, was made go¬ 
vernor of Medina, Irak, Khorafan, and Sijiflan. 
In the 76th year of the Hegira, Saleh Ebn Marj, an en- 
thufiaft, and Shebib Ebn Zeid, a Khareiite, took up arms 
againft the khalif. They had confpired againft him the 
year before, while on a pilgrimage to Mecca ; and A 1 
Hejaj had been ordered to l'eize them, but they found 
means to make their efcape ; and, having now affemblcd 
about 120 followers, Saleh was proclaimed emperor of the 
faithful at Daras, in Mefopotamia. The governor foon 
received intelligence of their motions ; and ordered Adi to 
march againft them with a detachment of 1500 horfe; but 
tiie rebels, notwithflanding the fmallnefs of their number, 
defended themfelves with fuch bravery, that the khalif’s 
troops were forced to difmount and fight on foot. The 
engagement continued till night; when the rebels, finding 
themfelves unable to contend with fuch numbers, retired 
to Mawfel. After this, A 1 Hejaj, being informed that 
they had taken pod at Dalcara, purfued them witii 5000 
men. The rebels, hearing of this formidable army, aban¬ 
doned their camp ; but were fo clofely purfued, that they 
were forced into an engagement at Modbaj, a fmall village 
on the Tigris. Saleh’s forces were foon thrown into dif- 
order, and himfelf killed : but Sliebib made an excellent 
retreat to a neighbouring caftle; from w hence he unex¬ 
pectedly Tallied out at midnight on the khalif’s forces, 
penetrated to the very heart of the camp, where he wound¬ 
ed the general himfelf, and difperfed the grcateft part of 
his army. After this, the rebels became tible even to 
Al Hejaj himfelf, whom they again defeated in feveral 
engagements ; and, taking advantage of his being at Bafra, 
made themfelves matters of Cufa with little oppofition. 
Al Hejaj was now obliged to write to the khalif for a 
ftrong detachment of Syrian troops, with which he again 
advanced againft Shebib ; whole army bearing no proper- 
B I A. 
tion to that of Al Hejaj, the former was totally ejefeated, 
and driven to Kerman. Having refrefhed his men in this 
province, he again advanced to Ahwaz, where he was 
attacked by one of Al Hejaj’s generals at the head of the 
Syrian army. Shebib defended himfelf with incredible 
valour, and feveral times repulled the khalif’s forces; 
but, being overpowered by numbers, he was put to flio-ht, 
and, in palling a bridge, was thrown off his horfe and 
drowned. His body was drawn up by a net, and the head 
cut off and fent to Al Hejaj. After his death, the rebels, 
quarrelled among themfelves, fo that the khalif’s troops 
deftroyed the greateft part of them. The remainder, un¬ 
der Katri Ebn Fojat, fled to Tabreftan. Here they were 
kindly received by A (hid the king, who attigned them a 
part of his territories for their habitation. But they had 
not been long fettled there, before they infilled upon Alhid’s 
either embracing Mahometanifm, or paying them an an¬ 
nual tribute ; which he refilling, t[ijy drove him into Irak, 
where he implored the khalif’s protection. Afliid after¬ 
wards conducted an army of Modem troops into Tabref- 
tan; where they fell upon the rebels with fuch fury, that 
they killed Katri, cut a great number of his men to pieces 
and took al! the reft oriloners. 
This year, the 76th of the Hegira, money was firft coin¬ 
ed in Arabia. Previous to this, the dinars, or gold coins, 
had Greek inferiptions; and die dirhems, or lilver ones, 
Perlic inferiptions. The firft erection of a mint in Arabia 
was occafioned by the following incident : Abdalnialec 
added to the letters lie wrote to the Greek emperor for 
coins, this ftiort paffage of the Koran, “ Say, God is one;” 
or, “ Say, there is one God ;” and then inferted the year 
of the Hegira, with the name of the prophet, to be inferi- 
bed on the dinars; which gave the emperor great offence. 
Upon this he wrote to Abdalmalec, defiring him to alter 
that manner of writing, or he would fend him fome coins 
in which the name of Mahomet diould be mentioned in 
fuch a manner as would not prove very agreeable. Ab¬ 
dalmalec now refolved to coin money of his own ; aad 
accordingly lonie dirhems were this year (lamped by Al 
Hejaj, with the infeription Alla Samad, “ God is eternal 
which gave great offence to the fuperftitious Modems, as 
they imagined that the name of God would be thereby 
profaned by the touch of unclean perfons. 
In the 77th year of the Hegira, the Arabs made an in- 
curlion into the imperial territories, where Lazica and 
Berhucium were betrayed to them ; and the next year 
they made themfelves matters of Africa Propria; demo- 
lifiling the city of Carthage fo effectually that fcarcely a 
veftige of it was left. They were loon driven out, how¬ 
ever, by John the Patrician, a man of great valour and 
experience in war; but, returning with a fuperior force, 
they obliged John in his turn to fly to Conftantinople. The 
79th year of the Hegira is remarkable for nothing but 
the rebellion of Abdalrahman in Perfia ; who drove the 
Khakan, or emperor of the Turks, Tartars, or Moguls, 
out of that country : but the following year, one of the 
Greek generals, named Heraclius, penetrated into Syria as 
far as Samofata, and deftroyed 200,000 Arabs, ravaging 
the country in a terrible manner ; but at laft Abdalrah- 
man was defeated and killed by Al Hejaj, after a vafl 
number of engagements, fome fay eighty-one, and others 
a hundred. lathe 83d year of the Hegira, the nobility 
of Armenia revolting, they drove the Arabs out of that 
province ; but Mahomet, one of the khalif’s generals, en¬ 
tering the country with a powerful army, got the authors 
of the revolt into his hands, and caufed them all to be 
burnt alive. Encouraged by this fuccefs, the Modems 
invaded Cilicia under Azar; but were, to the number of 
10,000, cut in pieces by Heraclius; and the next year, 
having again entered that country, 12,000 more of them 
were deftroyed by the fame general, and the reft forced to 
fly into their own country. 
In the 86th year of the Hegira, died the khalif Abdal¬ 
malec, after a reign of twenty-one years. He is faid to 
have had fuch a fetid breath, that the flies which acciden¬ 
tally 
