THE OMEYYAD AND ABBASSIDE DYNASTIES, AND CONCLUSION.
[Sidenote: Omeyyad and Abbasside dynasties.]
It remains but very briefly to follow the fortunes of the Omeyyad
dynasty; to show how it came to be supplanted by the Abbasside; to
trace the history of the more potent tribal and spiritual influences,
which sprang up with the Faith; and to explain how some of these,
having served their time, have disappeared; while others still survive,
as powerful agencies in the rise and fall of nations, and the destinies
of Islam.
[Sidenote: Yezîd. A.H. 60–64.]
Yezîd soon felt the injury accruing to the Caliphate from the revulsion
of feeling, in favour of the family of Aly and against the throne,
which followed upon the tragedy of Kerbala. Kûfa, with its proverbial
inconstancy, was ever ready to espouse the cause of a house the
progenitors of which--Aly and his sons--it had cast aside, and as
readily again to let drop that cause. Bussorah, on the other hand,
was more inclined to the Khârejite heresy. But it was from a very
different quarter that the gravest peril first assailed Yezîd and
his successors. The danger, as Muâvia had foreshadowed, arose from
Abdallah ibn Zobeir. It was he who, to be rid of Hosein, had encouraged
that unfortunate prince in his desperate venture. No sooner was the
catastrophe of Kerbala announced at Mecca, than Abdallah ibn Zobeir
set up a claim in his own person. [Sidenote: Ibn Zobeir affects the
Caliphate. A.H. 61.]At first he assumed the pious and modest
title, ‘Protector of the Holy House.’ But he soon went beyond this,
and proclaimed himself a rival of the Caliph. Though closely connected
with the Prophet’s family, it was not to noble birth he trusted. He
was a military adventurer, as his father and Talha had been before
him, trying conclusions, but more successfully at the first, against
the ruling power. Yezîd swore that his adversary should be brought a
prisoner, chained by the neck, to Damascus. Shortly after, regretting
the oath and yet wishing to fulfil it in the letter, he sent the rebel
a silver chain to be thrown as an ornament about his neck, if he would
present himself at court. But Ibn Zobeir, scorning the offer, committed
the messengers to prison, and soon roused all Arabia against the
Caliph. The Governor of Medîna sent a deputation of its chief men to
Damascus, hoping that they might be won over by the gifts and kindness
of Yezîd. [Sidenote: Medîna rebels, and is sacked. A.H. 63.
A.D. 683.]They returned munificently rewarded, but with such
an account of the dissipation and disregard of the obligations of Islam
prevailing at the court, that the leaders of Medîna were scandalised
and forswore allegiance to the godless Caliph. Thereupon an army was
sent to chastise the rebellious city. A battle was fought in its
neighbourhood, and the vanquished inhabitants were subjected for three
days to the licence and rapine of the Syrian troops. But in the end the
cause of Ibn Zobeir gained ground both in Arabia and the East. Aided by
his brother Musáb, and other able generals, he gained hold at one time
of a great portion of the empire. It is not, indeed, impossible that
he might have defeated the Omeyyads altogether, if he had consented to
make common cause with the Khârejite theocrats. But this he could not
do; because these demanded, as a first condition, that the memory of
Othmân should be denounced as that of a tyrant justly put to death;
whereas, in company with his father, the son of Zobeir had waged war
with Aly for the avowed purpose of avenging the blood of Othmân. His
arms were, therefore, turned against these heretics; and in everywhere
defeating them, he effectually served the cause of the Caliphs of
Damascus. For many years he maintained a rival court at Mecca; and his
rule is memorable for the rebuilding of the Holy House.[598]
[Sidenote: Rebellion of Mukhtâr. A.H. 65–67.]
Meanwhile another rebel against the Omeyyads had appeared at Kûfa in
the person of Mukhtâr, son of Abu Obeid.[599] This adventurer first
dallied with the Khârejites. Afterwards, changing front, he professed
himself the agent of the house of Aly, and the lieutenant of Aly’s
grandson then living at Medîna. As such for a time Mukhtâr ruled at
Kûfa, and took summary vengeance on all who had been concerned in the
massacre at Kerbala. Shamir and Amr were both executed, and their
heads sent to his pretended master. Over Obeidallah, Mukhtâr gained a
great victory on the Zab; and the trunkless head of that unfortunate
governor, who fell in the battle, was carried to the palace at Kûfa,
and cast upon the same spot where just six years before he had gloated
over the bloody head of Hosein. Thus early was the tragedy of Kerbala
avenged in the death of its chief actors. But the success of Mukhtâr
was not long-lived. He was attacked by the generals of Ibn Zobeir,
defeated and slain.
[Sidenote: Sequel of Ibn Zobeir, and rebuilding the Káaba. A.H. 63.]
By these successful campaigns against the Khârejites and against
Mukhtâr, both enemies of the empire, Ibn Zobeir was, in effect,
clearing the way for the Court of Damascus to strike a final blow
against himself. His brother Musáb was defeated and killed. [Sidenote:
Musáb killed. A.H. 71.]The famous Hajjâj, at this period the right
arm of the Omeyyad Caliphs, was now able to concentrate his forces
against the Pretender, who still held his court at Mecca, and with an
overpowering army to invest the sacred city. [Sidenote: Hajjâj besieges
Mecca. Ibn Zobeir slain. A.H. 73.]Finding that his game was nearly
played out, Ibn Zobeir lost heart, and had thoughts of surrendering.
But his aged mother Asma, daughter of Abu Bekr, with the ancient
spirit of the Arab matron, exhorted her son to die as a hero should.
And so, putting on his armour, he rushed into the unequal combat, and
fell. His mother, now a centenarian, is the same who, at the Hegira,
seventy-three years before, tore off her girdle to bind the Prophet’s
wallet to his camel as he took his flight from the cave of Mount
Thaur, and thus earned the name of ‘the Woman of the shreds.’[600]
It is almost the last personal link we have connecting the Prophet’s
life with the Omeyyad Caliphate. What a world of events had transpired
within the lifetime of this lady!
[Sidenote: Omeyyad dynasty again supreme. A.H. 73.]
On the death of Ibn Zobeir, who had thus bravely held his ground as the
rival of several successive Caliphs for thirteen years, the Omeyyad
rule was anew recognised, without dispute, over the whole Moslem realm,
and the name of the reigning Caliph was recited in the public prayers
of every Mosque from the East to the farthest West.
[Sidenote: Death of Yezîd. A.H. 64.]
During the troublous times of which mention has been made, several
successions had taken place in the Caliphate. After a short and anxious
reign, Yezîd died, leaving the kingdom to a weak son, who survived
but a few months. [Sidenote: Merwân, A.H. 65.]Amidst the
disturbances which followed, Merwân made his way to the throne, and,
dying in the following year, left the empire to his son Abd al Malik.
[Sidenote: Abd al Malik. A.H. 65–86.]This prince wielded the
sceptre for one-and-twenty years. The greater part of his reign was
a struggle with foes such as Ibn Zobeir, Mukhtâr, and other leaders
of the Alyite faction, besides the chronic outbursts of Khârejite
fanaticism. At one time the Caliph was so beset by these opponents,
that for three years he submitted to the humiliation of paying tribute
to the Byzantine Court. In the end he triumphed over all his enemies,
and transmitted a magnificent and still expanding kingdom to his son
Welîd.[601] Notwithstanding the storms that so long surrounded his
throne, Abd al Malik cultivated letters, and was mild and beneficent
in his sway. [Sidenote: Welîd A.H. 86–96.]During the reign of
his son, which lasted ten years, the glory culminated of the Omeyyad
race. Elements of disorder still remained, but under the wise and firm
sceptre of Welîd they were held in check. The arts of peace prevailed;
schools were founded, learning cultivated, and poets royally rewarded;
public works of every useful kind were promoted, and even hospitals
established for the aged, lame, and blind. Such, indeed, at this era,
was the glory of the Court of Damascus, that Weil, of all the Caliphs
both before and after, gives the precedence to Welîd. It is the fashion
for the Arabian historians to abuse the Omeyyads as a dissolute,
intemperate, and godless race; but we must not forget that these all
wrote more or less under Abbasside inspiration. And Welîd especially
suffers at their hands; for it was under him that Hajjâj[602] made the
assault upon the Holy City--a ‘sacrilege’ which still rankles in the
Believer’s soul; and, moreover, during whose twenty years’ splendid
vice-royalty in the East, Kûfa and Bussorah were both bathed in blood;
and hence some part of the hatred against the tyrant has come to be
reflected upon the name of his Master also. It is too true, indeed,
that at Damascus, as in other great cities of the empire, there was now
rapidly supervening a shameless laxity of manners; but neither in the
Caliphs themselves, nor in their surroundings, did the looseness of
morality at the Syrian Court surpass that which, under the Abbassides,
not long after prevailed within the royal precincts of Baghdad.[603]
[Sidenote: Omeyyad Caliphs. A.H. 96–132.]
After Welîd, the Omeyyad dynasty lasted six-and-thirty years. But it
began to rest on a precarious basis. For now the agents of the house of
Hâshim, descendants of the Prophet and of his uncle Abbâs, commenced to
ply secretly, but with vigour and persistency, their task of canvass
and intrigue in distant cities, and especially in the provinces of the
East.
[Sidenote: The Shîya faction canvass for Alyite pretenders.]
For a long time, the endeavour of these agitators was directed to
the advocacy of the _Shîya_ right; that is to say, it was based upon
the Divine claim of Aly, and his descendants in the Prophet’s line,
to the Imâmate or leadership over the empire of Islam.[604] Risings
everywhere from time to time took place in favour of some one or
other in whose veins flowed the blood of Aly. Everywhere the attempts
were suppressed, the pretenders slain or cast into prison, and their
armies defeated in the field. [Sidenote: Canvass in favour of house of
Abbâs.]But a new and more fatal danger soon arose. The discomfiture
of the Shîyas paved the way for the designing advocates of the other
Hâshimite branch, namely, that of the house of Abbâs, the uncle of
the Prophet. These had all along been plotting in the background, and
watching their opportunity. They now vaunted the claims of this line,
and were barefaced enough to urge that, being descended from the
uncle of Mahomet through _male_ representatives, they took precedence
over the direct descendants of the Prophet himself, because these came
through Fâtima in the _female_ line. [Sidenote: Abul Abbâs supported
by Abu Muslim in Persia. A.H. 130.]About the year 130 of the Hegira,
Abul Abbâs, of Abbasside descent, was put forward in Persia, as the
candidate of this party, and his claim was supported by the famous
general Abu Muslim. Successful in the East, Abu Muslim turned his arms
to the West. [Sidenote: Battle of the Zab. A.H. 132. A.D. 750.] A great
battle, one of those which decide the fate of empires, was fought on
the banks of the Zab; and, through the defection of certain Khârejite
and Yemen levies, was lost by the Omeyyad army. Merwân II., the last
of his dynasty, was driven to Egypt, and there killed in the church of
Bussir, whither he had fled for refuge. [Sidenote: Abul Abbâs succeeds
to the Caliphate.]At the close of the year 132,[605] the black flag,
emblem of the Abbassides, floated over the battlements of Damascus. The
Omeyyad dynasty, after ruling the vast Moslem empire for a century, now
disappeared in cruelty and bloodshed. Alyite, Omeyyad, and Khârejite,
were equally the victims of the exterminating sword of the first
Abbasside Caliph, who thereby earned for himself the unenviable name of
_Al Saffâh_, ‘The Bloody.’[606]
[Sidenote: Omeyyad dynasty in Spain. A.H. 138. A.D. 756.]
So perished the royal house of the Omeyyads. But one escaped. He fled
to Spain, which had never favoured the overweening pretensions of the
Prophet’s family, whether in the line of Aly or Abbâs. Accepted by
the Arab tribes, whose influence in the West was paramount, Abd al
Rahmân now laid the foundation of a new Dynasty, and perpetuated the
Omeyyad name at the magnificent court of Cordova. [Sidenote: Moslem
defeat at Tours. A.D. 732.]Some years previously, the flood of
Moslem victory sweeping northwards had been stemmed and rolled back by
Charles Martel at Tours; but a grand career yet remained within the
peninsula of Spain to illustrate this remnant of the Omeyyad race.
[Sidenote: Other Moslem kingdoms.]
Thus with the rise of the Abbassides, the unity of the Caliphate came
to an end. Never after, either in theory or in fact, was there a
successor to the Prophet, acknowledged as such over all Islam. Other
provinces followed in the wake of Spain. The Aghlabite dynasty in the
east of Africa and west of it, the Edrisites in Fez, both of Alyite
descent; Egypt and Sicily under independent rulers; the Tâhirite kings
in Persia, their native soil; these and others, breaking away from
the central government, established kingdoms of their own. [Sidenote:
The Caliphate in its original significance comes to an end.]The name
of Caliph, however it might survive in the Abbasside lineage, or be
assumed by less legitimate pretenders, had now altogether lost its
virtue and significance.
[Sidenote: The Abbassides transfer seat of government to Baghdad. A.H.
145.]
Yet a splendid empire remained for the Abbassides. They carried
their court from Damascus, where the memory of the late dynasty
inconveniently survived its fall, to the banks of the Euphrates.
There, Kûfa, too prone to be inflamed by Alyite intrigue against the
new line of Caliphs, was finally abandoned as the seat of royalty.
Another capital was founded by Abu Jáfar, the second of the Abbassides,
at Baghdad, fifteen miles above Medâin, on the western bank of the
Tigris. For many years, Alyites, Omeyyads, and Khârejites continued to
be punished with equal rigour by the new dynasty, and much insecurity
and bloodshed prevailed. But misrule and rebellion in the end gave
place to rest and peace, and a century followed of unparalleled
grandeur and prosperity. [Sidenote: Splendour of Baghdad, the _City of
Peace_.]Baghdad, answering to its proud name of _Dâr al Salâm_, ‘The
City of Peace,’ became for a time the capital of the world, the centre
of luxury, the emporium of commerce, and the seat of learning.
[Sidenote: Al Mâmûn. A.H. 198–218.]
At the close of the second century of the Hegira, Al Mâmûn succeeded
to the throne. His mother was a Persian lady; and he had imbibed from
her, and the society in which he was reared at Merve, the principles
of the Motázilites. [Sidenote: Motázilite creed.]This strange system,
which had recently sprung up in the East, was grafted by the sectarians
of Aly (Shîyites) on the transcendental philosophy of the Persians.
It was, in fact, a new and altogether unlooked-for development, or
rather perversion, of Islam. Heretofore, the sole ground of faith had
been the Corân, and the _Sunnat_ or deliverances preserved by
tradition from the lips of Mahomet. Now, under the Divine Imâmate,
or spiritual leadership vested in some member of the house of Aly,
there might be other infallible sources of guidance from above. There
arose, in fact, a new school of interpretation, one might almost say,
a new dispensation. The Corân was treated allegorically; and such
difficulties as beset the Orthodox, offended reason, or cramped the
growth of society, were thus easily evaded.[607] In the system so
evolved, the Prophet, had he revisited the earth, would hardly have
recognised his own religion. This elastic development of the Faith,
sublimated by the mysticism of Persia, and refined by the subtleties of
Indian philosophy, was eagerly embraced by the natives of the Eastern
provinces. And Al Mâmûn, who on his accession remained still for a
time at Merve, fell deeply under its influence. [Sidenote: Embraced
by Al Mâmûn.]So inclined was he to the house of Aly, that he gave a
daughter of his own in marriage to one of that lineage, and he even
adopted their green ensign;--hoping thus to unite the lines of Aly
and Abbâs in one new dynasty. Although, on transferring his court to
Baghdad, he abandoned the design,[608] Mâmûn still remained faithful
to the rationalistic creed. He surrounded himself at the capital with
the learned of all persuasions; and in company with them was used to
hold discussions, at which such grave questions as those affecting
man’s relations with the Deity, and the nature of the Godhead itself,
were freely handled. In opposition to the Orthodox, he believed in the
doctrine of Free-will. From the received teaching that the Corân is
uncreated and eternal, he recoiled, as at variance with the unity of
the Godhead; and, in the end, he proclaimed, with pains and penalties
for dissent, that it was created. Thus, though a Free-thinker himself,
Al Mâmûn, as often happens, denied the free right of judgment to
others; and he persecuted cruelly, and on one or two occasions even
to the death, those who ventured to differ with him. [Sidenote:
Comparative freedom and toleration under Motázilites.]Still freedom of
opinion and open discussion were, beyond comparison, more tolerated
under the régime of the Motázilites than of the Orthodox.[609] For
forty or fifty years, the tenets of the Rationalists prevailed under
the Motázilite Caliphs at Baghdad. Then, there was a reaction back
again to the ‘Orthodox’ faith; and now, all who questioned the eternity
of the Corân, who ventured to magnify the claims of Aly, or to detract
from those of his predecessors in the Caliphate--Abu Bekr, Omar,
Othmân--became in their turn the objects of unrelenting persecution. In
one important respect, however, the Motázilite Caliphs (and we might
say the Shîya sect in general) have excelled the Orthodox; they are
especially distinguished by greater forbearance towards the professors
of other creeds. With the return of orthodoxy the reign of intolerance
revived; and against both Jews and Christians, the so-called
‘Ordinances of Omar’ were enforced by an Orthodox court with new and
degrading penalties.[610]
[Sidenote: Golden Age of literature at Baghdad.]
The reigns of Al Mâmûn and his immediate successors were the palmy days
of Moslem learning. At the court of Baghdad there were munificently
entertained, philosophers, physicians, and men of letters. Amongst
them were many Jews and Christians, versed at once in the Arabic
tongue, and in the language and literature of Greece. The monasteries
of Syria, Asia Minor, and the Levant, were ransacked for manuscripts
of the Greek philosophers, historians, and geometricians. These, with
vast labour and erudition, were translated into the Arabic; and thus
the learning of the West was made accessible to the Moslem world. Nor
were their efforts confined to the reproduction of ancient works, but
in some directions extended also to original research. An observatory,
reared on the plain of Tadmor, furnished materials for the successful
study of astronomy and geometry. In other walks of literature, we have
books of travel and history, and, above all, of medicine; while much
attention was paid to the less practical, but more popular, branches of
astrology and alchemy. It was through the labours of these learned men
that the nations of Europe, then shrouded in the darkness of the Middle
Ages, became again acquainted with their own proper, but unused and
forgotten, patrimony of Grecian science and philosophy.
[Sidenote: Introduction of mercenaries and fall of the Caliphate.]
But the Golden Age soon faded away. Provinces rebelled. Lieutenants
assumed independence. Faction and tumult became the chronic state of
the capital, and riotous attack was ever threatening the helpless
Caliphs at their very door. The reason is not far to search for. A
change had come over the military forces of the empire. From the very
first, the Abbasside Caliphs had regarded the Arab tribes, the real
backbone of the Caliphate, with a jealous and distrustful eye; and
these, cast at last aside, and the stipendiary support of the Dewân
withdrawn, were now rapidly returning to nomad life, or mingling with
the settled population. Instead of trusting them, or playing off one
tribe against another, as the Omeyyads did, the Caliphs of Baghdad,
in an evil hour, introduced Turkish mercenaries from Central Asia;
and, by-and-by, they committed the protection of their own persons to
a body-guard of these. The servant soon came to be the master. The
staff pierced the hand that leaned upon it. The Caliphate became the
sport and plaything of the Turkish soldiery, and sank in impotency and
contempt.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Politico-religious influences still surviving.]
Islam had now run its course of growth and change. After this, we
see no new phase development, spiritual, social, or political. The
considerations and incentives peculiar to the Moslem faith, and those
connected with the native tribes and families in which it took its
birth, became for the most part faint and feeble with the lapse of
time, or merged into the common motives which influence mankind. The
Mahometan world, as it advanced in years, we find guided more and more
by ordinary mundane causes. Nations rise and fall, as elsewhere they
rise and fall. Rebellion and vicissitude alternate with prosperity
and peace. Yet some of the principles and causes of action which I
have sought to trace, though in later times less prominent, have never
altogether ceased to operate. Of the four great powers which influenced
the fortunes of the Moslem world during the first two centuries, only
one, the Alyite, remains unimpaired. The _Arab tribes_ ceased
in the third century to be a distinct military force, the arbiter of
Moslem dynasties, as well as the means by which the Faith was spread.
Gorged with the prey of the world, they had already lost their early
fire, when the fence set up by Omar between them and the conquered
races having been broken down, the grand military organisation was
swept away, and their place taken by mercenary levies. Henceforth
we meet them no more as an independent force in the body politic.
The _Coreish_, with the collapse of the Caliphate, have passed
out of sight, excepting as a race of noble memories. The Abbassides
are known no longer. But _Alyite_ influence, unaffected by the
lapse of time, is at some points stronger now even than it ever was.
And although the Arabs, as a military institution, have long ago
disappeared, we still trace their influence in the _Khârejite_,
that is to say the spiritual and theocratic aspect of their creed.
[Sidenote: Tendency of revivals among Orthodox and Shîyas.]
The countries in which the native Arabs mostly spread and settled,
and where, consequently, the Arab spirit longest survived (by far the
largest part of the Mahometan world), are still, on the whole, the
most devoted to the Orthodox faith; while Persia and a few smaller
principalities continue loyal to the Shîya creed. Revivals follow a
corresponding course. Amongst the Orthodox, the quickened spiritual
sense even in the present day shows itself in an implicit return to
the letter of the Corân; in a Puritan protest against all forms and
superstitions inconsistent with the sacred text; in outbursts of zeal
for ‘fighting in the ways of the Lord,’ and generally in a tendency
towards the ancient tenets of Khârejite theocracy.[611] Among the
Shîyas, on the other hand, the spirit of revival breaks out in wild
and mystical devotion, in the excesses of Soofeeism, and in the
profane extravagances engendered by a belief in the Divine Imâmate and
emanations of the Deity.
[Sidenote: Turkey, Persia, and India.]
Persia remains still the only important kingdom given up to the Shîya
faith. In India, the emperors, being of Turkish blood, were generally
orthodox in their profession. They encouraged the immigration, by
grants of land and other privileges, of vast crowds of Arab followers
drawn directly from their native soil. And so throughout Hindostan,
the Soonnie has always overshadowed the Shîya faith. At the same time,
Islam in India (as in Persia and other Shîya lands) has been, from
the failure to convert the millions of its heathen subjects, less
intolerant of idol temples and alien worship, than elsewhere. While, on
the other hand, in India, as in all Soonnie countries, revivals of the
Faith have run in the lines of puritanical reform, rather than, as in
Persia, into mystical excess.[612]
[Sidenote: Enmity between Soonnies and Shîya.]
Between Turkey and Persia, there is a broad distinction as to
tolerance. The Osmanlies, notwithstanding their close territorial
contact with Christianity, are, in virtue of their orthodoxy,
intolerant of the least divergence from the Faith; while the more
distant Persia (following the example of the Motázilite Caliphs)
is less impatient of other creeds, and more amenable to outer
influence.[613] In other respects, too, the ancient sentiment dividing
the Soonnie and the Shîya is as bitter now as in the days when Aly
cursed Muâvia, and Muâvia cursed Aly, in the daily public service.
The hopeless schism has tended to slacken the progress of Islam, and
abate its aggressive force. Thus recently, when a deadly blow was aimed
at the head of the Moslem Empire on this side of the Bosphorus, the
sectarians of Persia, through hate and jealousy of the Soonnie creed,
declined to rally round the banner of the Crescent; and, indeed, so far
as any help or even sympathy from Shîyas went, Islam might have been
blotted out of Europe altogether. The Soonnie scorns the Shîya; and the
Shîya, in his turn, spits on the graves of those great Caliphs, Omar
and Abu Bekr, to whom they owe it that Islam spread thus marvellously,
nay even that it survived its birth.
[Sidenote: Political and economical outlook of Islam.]
The Islam of to-day is substantially the same as the Islam which we
quitted at the close of this history. By the middle of the third
century it had completed its circuit, and had rung all the changes
which seem to lie within the range of its potentiality. Swathed in
the rigid bands of the Corân, Islam is powerless, like the Christian
dispensation, to adapt itself to the varying circumstances of time
and place, and to keep pace with, if not to lead and direct, the
progress of society and elevation of the race. In the body politic, the
spiritual and the secular are hopelessly confounded; and we fail of
perceiving any approach to free institutions, or any germ whatever of
popular government. The nearest approach to it was in the brotherhood
of Islam; but that, as a controlling power, was confined strictly
to the Arab races, and with their fall it has entirely disappeared.
The type and exemplar of Moslem rule is the absolute and autocratic
monarch, alternating at times with the will of lawless soldiery; and
the only check on the despot’s power is the law of the Corân, as
expounded by the learned, and enforced by the sentiment of the nation.
[Sidenote: Obnoxious social ordinances.]
Nor has there been anywhere change or advance perceptible in the state
of society. [Sidenote: Polygamy.]Polygamy and servile concubinage are
still the privilege, or the curse, of Islam; the worm at its root, the
secret of its fall. By these the unity of the household is fatally
broken, and the purity and virtue weakened of the family tie: the
vigour of the dominant classes is sapped; the body politic becomes
weak and languid, excepting for intrigue; and the throne itself liable
to fall a prey to doubtful or contested succession. [Sidenote: Female
slavery.]As to slavery, and more especially female slavery, we look too
exclusively at its effect on the wretched subject of the institution.
Its influence on the owner is infinitely more disastrous. However much
the condition of slavery may be ameliorated by the kindly influences
which, in Moslem lands, surround it as a domestic institution, still,
servile concubinage fixes its withering grasp with more damaging effect
even upon the master, than on the miserable slave of his enjoyments.
[Sidenote: Divorce.]
Hardly less injurious is the power of divorce, which can be exercised,
without the assignment of any reason whatever, at the mere word and
will of the husband. It not only hangs over each individual household
like the sword of Damocles, but affects the tone of society at large;
for even if not put in force, it cannot fail, as a potential influence
existing everywhere, to weaken the marriage bond, and detract from the
dignity and self-respect of the sex at large.
[Sidenote: The Veil, and seclusion of women.]
Nor is it otherwise with ‘the Veil,’ and those other domestic
restrictions enjoined by the Corân, which banish woman from her
legitimate place in society. The loss, indeed, is not so much hers
as of the other sex, who are altogether shut out, in public and
social life, from the bright and gracious, purifying, and softening
influences, of female companionship. [Sidenote: Wine and games
of chance forbidden.]The interdict against games of chance, and
the prohibition of even the moderate use of wine (ordinances in
themselves not altogether devoid of merit), have tended to aggravate
the moroseness, gloom, and gracelessness of Moslem life in public,
resulting from the banishment of the female sex.
[Sidenote: Islam stationary.]
These and the other institutions of Islam form an integral part of its
teaching. They are bound up in the Corân, the charter of its existence.
A re-formed Islam, which should part with the Divine ordinances on
which they rest, or attempt in the smallest degree to change them by
a rationalistic selection, abatement, or variation, would be Islam
no longer. That they tend to keep the professors of the Moslem faith
in a backward, and in some respects a barbarous state, cannot be
doubted. It is still true that, as at Damascus, Baghdad, and Cordova,
an era of great magnificence has at times prevailed. Commerce and
speculation (notwithstanding the ban placed by the Corân on the receipt
of interest) prospered; the arts of peace were cultivated; travel
and intercourse promoted liberality of national sentiment: learning
and literature advanced apace. But it was all short-lived, because
superficial. Civilisation did not penetrate the family. It failed to
leaven domestic life. The canker-worm of polygamy, divorce, servile
concubinage and the veil, lay at the root. And society, withering under
the influence of these, soon relapsed into barbarism again.
[Sidenote: The Caliphate a thing of the past.]
To speak of the Caliphate as existing, or likely ever again to exist,
in modern times, is but a dream of the past, a fond anachronism. The
conditions which rendered the Caliphate possible, have been exhausted
long centuries ago, and are beyond the possibility of resuscitation.
[Sidenote: Islam may prosper apart from political ascendency.]
The political ascendency of Islam is doomed. Every year witnesses a
sensible degree of subsidence. In the close connection of the Moslem
faith with the civil power, this cannot but in some measure affect the
prestige of Islam itself. Nevertheless, the religion may long retain
its hold upon the people, unimpaired by the decline of its sway in the
State.
[Sidenote: Conclusion.]
As regards the spiritual, social, and dogmatic aspect of Islam, there
has been neither progress nor material change since the third century
of the Hegira. Such as we found it to have been then, such is it
also at the present day. The nations may advance in civilisation and
morality, in philosophy, science, and the arts; but Islam stands still.
And thus stationary, so far as the lessons of this history avail, it
will remain.
INDEX.
Aámir, _Beni_, 26
Abbâs, prays for rain, 233
Abbassides, 432, 448, 450 _et seq._
Abd al Cays, _Beni_, 51, 360
Abdallah Abbâs (_see_ Ibn Abbâs)
Abdallah, son of Abu Bekr, 65
„ „ Hosein, 440
„ „ Khâlid, 37, 319
„ „ Omar, 46, 281, 287, 288, 325, 355, 392, 394, 430,
434
Abdallah, son of Zobeir (_see_ Ibn Zobeir)
Abd al Malik, 446, 447
Abd al Masîh, 80, 82
Abd al Rahmân, first Caliph in Spain, 449
Abd al Rahmân ibn Awf, 65, 117, 189;
Elector, 280, 286, 287;
Umpire, 289;
nominates Othmân Caliph, 290 _et seq._, 309;
death, 324
Abd al Rahmân, son of Abu Bekr, 44, 119;
enamoured of Leila, 272, 430, 434
Abd al Rahmân, son of Khâlid, 394
Abd Shems, _Beni_, 294
Abd Yaghûth, 54
Abrac, 17
Abs, _Beni_, 13, 17
Abu Bekr, described, 1, 120;
election, 3, 5, 7;
addresses troops, 10, 96, 13, 16, 18;
derivation of name, 24;
burns a rebel, 29;
justifies Khâlid, 35, 45, 90;
angry with Khâlid, 46, 50;
pardons Ashâth, 58, 64, 77, 78;
angry with Khâlid ibn Saîd, 94;
transfers Khâlid to Syria, 100;
orders levy, 114;
last pilgrimage, 115;
sickness, 116;
names Omar his successor, 117;
death, 119;
character, 120 _et seq._;
family, 122, 223;
compiles Corân, 231, 275, 286, 456
Abu Catâda, 33 _et seq._
Abu Cays, 301
Abu Dzarr Ghifâry, 309
Abu Hodzeifa, 42
Abu Horeira, 426
Abu Jandal, 273
Abul Abbâs, Al Saffâh, 449
Abul Aûr, 151, 394
Abu Lulû, assassin of Omar, 278 _et seq._
Abu Mihjan, 168
Abu Musâ, Governor of Bussorah, 266;
deposed, 305;
Governor of Kûfa, 320;
deposed, 359 _et seq._;
Umpire, 385;
decision, 391 _et seq._, 408
Abu Muslim, 449
Abu Obeid, 126;
killed, 130
Abu Obeida, 2, 95 _et seq._, 108;
commands in Syria, 143;
attacks Fihl, 151, 198, 200, 207, 216;
sends grain to Hejâz, 233;
will not quit Syria in the plague, 234;
death, 235, 276, 286
Abu Rabia, 290
Abu Sarh (_see_ Ibn Abu Sarh)
Abu Shajra, 28
Abu Sofiân, 96, 108, 109, 237;
death, 277
Abu Talha, 281, 288
Abu Zobeid, 304
Abyssinia, 264
Ackîl deserts his brother Aly, 410
Ackka, 85, 86
Acra, 50
Acraba (Yemâma), battle of, 39 _et seq._
Aden, 54, 55, 57
Adî ibn Hâtim, 15, 24, 72
Adzân, call to prayer, 18, 238
Adzrâat, 153
Africa, 298
Aghlabite dynasty, 450
Aghwâth (Câdesîya), 167, 170
Ahnaf ibn Cays, 385
Ahwâz, 249, 251
Ain Shems, 241
Ain Tamar, 85, 101
Ajâ and Salmâ (mountains), 22
Ajnadein, 206
Akk, _Beni_, 53
Alâ, 18, 47, 49, 50, 249
Alcama, 27
Aleppo, 200, 216
Alexandria, 216, 239 _et seq._;
capitulates, 243;
second siege, 247, 298;
naval victory off, 301
Ali Bey, travels of, 209
Allîs, battle of, 76, 82, 132
Aly, 21 _note_, 64, 65;
his slave girls, 89, 123, 207;
appointed Elector, 280, 282, 287, 289;
swears allegiance to Othmân, 291, 293, 295, 308, 316, 317;
expostulates with Othmân, 321, 327, 329 _et seq._;
sends son to protect Othmân, 334;
elected Caliph, 342 _et seq._;
would supersede Muâvia, 345;
appoints new governors, 347;
defied by Muâvia, 349;
pursues rebels, 355;
advances on Bussorah, 360;
negotiates with rebels, 361;
Battle of Camel, 363;
enters Bussorah, 366;
transfers government to Kûfa, 369;
sends envoy to Muâvia, 376;
invades Syria, 377;
battle of Siffîn, 380 _et seq._;
accepts arbitration, 386;
opposed by Khârejites, 388;
Syrian campaign ordered, 397;
defeats Khârejites, 399;
loses Egypt, 401 _et seq._;
attitude towards Christian captives, 406;
truce with Muâvia, 410;
assassination, 411 _et seq._;
burial-place unknown, 414;
character, 415, 433, 451, 456
Aly Akbar, 440
Aly Asghar, 440, 441
Alyites (_see_ Shîyas), 454
Aly, son of Hosein, 439
Ameer al Momenîn, title of Caliph, 285
Amghîsia, 78
Amida, 217, 219
Amina, Mahomet’s mother, 289
Ammân, 153
Ammâr, Governor of Kûfa, 268, 269, 284, 290, 325, 359, 363, 368,
380;
killed, 382
Amr ibn Mádekerib, 53, 55, 56, 138, 158, 168, 173
Amr, son of Sád, 437, 445
Amru, 12, 18, 93, 95, 97 _et seq._, 108, 153, 205 _et seq._, 208;
sends grain to Medîna, 233;
conquers Egypt, 239 _et seq._;
Mosque of, 244;
Feast in Egypt, 246;
conquests in Africa, 247, 264, 276, 288;
displaced in Egypt, 299, 326;
joins Muâvia, 373;
commands Muâvia’s army, 378, 382;
appointed Umpire, 385;
decision, 391 _et seq._;
escapes assassination, 412;
his death, 422
Amwâs, 206
Anbâr, 85, 89, 138
Ansâr, citizens of Medîna, 3, 5, 32, 126
Antioch, 200, 216
Apology of Al Kindy, 23, 75, 220, 416, 452
Apostasy, of Arabia, 11;
left a stigma, 28, 63;
subdued, 60;
ban removed, 126
Araba, 97
Arabia, exodus from, 60;
to be wholly Moslem, 224, 230
Arab slaves set free, 63
Arabs, militant race, 62;
pensioned, 226;
nobility of the Moslem world, 260;
antagonism between, and Coreish, 294, 454, 455
Arbitration at Siffîn, 386
Ardshir (city), 406
Ardshîr (king), 76
Arfaja, 18, 51, 134, 191
Arîsh, 241
Armâth (Câdesîya), 167
Armenia, 217
Arrestân, 199
Artabûn, 206, 207, 241
Asad, _Beni_, 22, 25, 26, 27, 169
Ascalon, 206
Ashár, _Beni_, 53
Asháth ibn Cays, 56 _et seq._, 64, 219, 385
Ashtar, 317, 319, 337, 360;
precipitates Battle of Camel, 362;
at Siffîn, 384 _et seq._
Asia Minor, 217, 297, 298
Asim, his feat at Câdesîya, 168
Asim fords the Tigris with cavalry, 183
Asma, wife of Abu Bekr, 118 _et seq._, 446
Aswad, the false prophet, 52
Atîck (_see_ Bâdacla)
Attâb, 52, 65
Aus, _Beni_, 5, 61
Ayesha, 2, 5, 120, 276, 281, 338;
her sedition at Mecca, 351;
character, 352;
her camel, 353;
alarmed on march to Bussorah, 354;
occupies Bussorah, 356;
at Battle of Camel, 361 _et seq._;
camel hamstrung, 364;
retires to Medîna, 367, 403
Ayla, 93, 233;
Bishop of, visited by Omar, 236
Azarmîdokht, 113
Azd, _Beni_, 51, 53
Azerbâijân, 258, 259
Báalbek, 205
Babylon, 70;
battle of, 113;
Sád encamps at, 178
Backî, burying-ground of Medîna, 282, 341
Bactrian camels, 52
Bâdacla, 70, 135, 175
Baghdad, 450
Bahân, 93, 104
Bahmân, 75, 129, 131, 166
Bahra, _Beni_, 103
Bahram Gour, 79
Bahrein, 18, 21, 47, 49
Bajîla, _Beni_, 133, 169
Balkh, 259
Barca, 247, 299
Basilica of Virgin, 209
Battle of Acraba (Yemâma), ‘Garden of Death,’ 39–43
-- -- Alexandria, 241, 247, 301
-- -- Allîs, 76, 82, 132
-- -- Babylon, 113
-- -- Boweib, Field of Tens, 135
-- -- Bozâkha, 25, 27
-- -- the Bridge, 130, 170
-- -- Câdesîya, 167
-- -- the Camel, (Bussorah), 363
-- -- Chains, 72
-- -- Dabâ, 51
-- -- Fihl (Pella), 152
-- -- Firâdh, 90
-- -- the ‘Garden of Death,’ 43
-- -- Siffîn, 380
Bedouin faction, 227;
opposed to Coreish, 294, 370
Bedouins, 61, 69;
Syrian, 105, 211
Beisân, 150
Beit-Jibrîn, 206
Bekr ibn Wâil, _Beni_, 38, 49, 76, 360
Belâdzori, vi
Belbeis, 245
Belcâa, 97
Berâa, 43
Beth Gabara, 206
Bethlehem, 210
Bilâl, 220, 238, 276
Birs Nimrûd, 70, 112, 164, 178
Bishoprics, 49;
Bishop of Ayla, entertains Omar, 236
Bishr, 90
Bitâh, 33
Bodeir, 89
Booty, 176, 184, 188, 258
Bosor, his raid on Arabia, 408
Bostra, 69, 87, 97, 153
Bowaj Rûd, 258
Boweib, battle of, 135
Bozâkha, 17, 24;
battle of, 25, 27
Bridge, battle of, 130, 170
Bubastis, 241
Burân, Queen Mother of Persia, 180
Bussir, 4, 49
Bussorah, founded, 192, 195 _et seq._, 249, 250, 264, 270;
change of governors, 305, 329, 348, 352, 364;
insurrection at, 404
Byzantine empire, 66, 203
Cacâa, 85, 89, 108, 170, 172, 173 _et seq._, 188, 216, 320, 360,
361
Câdesîya, 160 _et seq._;
battle of, 167
Cæsarea, 206–15, 218
Câhira, _Al_, Cairo, 243
Calansua, Syrian hat, 220
Caliph, 5, 285
Caliphate, unity of, 375;
double, 410;
extinct, 450, 458
Camel, Battle of, 363 _et seq._
Canal, from Nile to Suez, 244
Canals, administration of, in Chaldæa, 230
Captives, female, 37, 75
Cariatein, 103
Cârin, 74
Carmel, 205
Carthage, 299
Câsim, 438
Caspian, 258, 296
Castle of Sád, 194
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, at Damascus, 145, 149
Catholicos, of Egypt, 241
Catîf, 47
Caussin de Perceval, vii
Cavalry, reserves of, 231
Caycar, 98
Cays ibn Abd Yaghûth, 54, 55
Cays ibn Asim, 48
Cays, son of Sád ibn Obâda, 347;
Governor of Egypt, 371;
recalled, 372, 402;
submits to Muâvia, 419
Chains, Battle of, 72
Chaldæa, 66
China, 259
Chosroes, 67
Christians, 38, 49, 61, 66, 69, 76;
at Hîra, 81, 86, 105, 131, 134, 136, 137, 177, 190, 201, 210
_et seq._;
disabilities, 213, 217 _et seq._;
expelled from Najrân, 223, 248;
captives, 406, 452
Churches, 145, 210;
prohibition against new, 213
Church of the Resurrection, at Jerusalem, 210;
of Constantine, 210;
of Nativity, 210
Cilicia, 215
Clients, 63, 228, 260
Codeis, 160, 166
Codhâa, _Beni_, 10, 18, 40, 93, 103
Commander of the Faithful, 285
Companions, 1, 18, 95, 101, 160, 227, 374
Conspirators, advance of, on Medîna, 329
Constans II., 302
Constantine, 302
Convent of Khâlid, 211
Corâcar, 102
Corân, raised aloft in battle, 42, 384 _et seq._;
Readers of, 45;
how compiled, 231;
created or eternal, 452
Cordova, 449
Coreish, 227;
migrate to Irâc, 308;
vaunt themselves against Arabs, 316;
Garden of, 317, 454
Corra ibn Hobeira, 27
Coss Nâtick, 83, 129
Ctesiphon, 67, 70, 179
Cutham, son of Abbâs, 350
Cyprus, 301
Dabâ, battle of, 51
Dadweih, 54
Dahna, desert of, 48
Dâira Hind, 265
Damascus, 97, 103;
siege, 145;
capitulation, 148, 154, 200, 205, 348
Daniel the prophet’s tomb, 252
Darâbgird, miracle of, 260
Darârkis, 98
Dâr al Salâm, Baghdad, 450
Dârîm, _Beni_, 30
Dârin, island, 49
Dates, royal, 128
Dâthin, 97
‘Day of Tears,’ 353
‘Days of Ignorance,’ the, 64
Dead Sea, 204
Delta of Euphrates, 191
Dewân of Omar, or Civil List, 225 _et seq._
Dhabba accuses Abu Mûsa, 266
Dhahhâk ibn Cays, 394 _note_
Dhirâr, 24, 34, 109, 111;
punished for drunkenness, 273
Dihcâns, 71, 83, 91, 230
Divorce, 457
Doluk, 201
Drought, 232
Dûma, 10;
stormed, 87, 88, 101
Dura, Plain of, 70, 113, 179
Dzât Irc, 353 _note_
Dzobiân, _Beni_, 13, 17
Dzu Câr, 78, 360
Dzul Cassa, 13, 17, 18, 40
Dzul Hâjib, 166
Dzul Kelâa, 54, 93, 94, 383
Dzu Nowâs, the Jewish persecutor, 223
Ebnâa, of Persian or Indian descent, 49, 54
Edessa, 217
Edrisite dynasty, 450
Egypt, sends grain to Arabia, 234;
conquest of, 239 _et seq._;
sedition in, 317, 329, 348;
conquered by Amru, 401 _et seq._, 450
Electors appointed by Omar, 280 _et seq._, 286
Elephants, 73, 113, 130, 166, 169, 172;
portentous sight of, 173
Elwand, 257
Esdräelon, 150
Euphrates, 70, 130;
canals, 230
Fadak, 64, 224
Famine, 232
Farazdac, 113, 436
Faroma, 241
Fars, 259
Fâtima, 6, 64, 224, 276, 282, 449
Fâtima, daughter of Aly, 439
Fellahîn, 71, 74, 194
Felûgia, Felâlij, 85
Female slavery, 273, 457
Feroze, 54, 58
Fezâra, _Beni_, 25
Fifth of booty, 16
Fihl (Pella), 150;
battle of, 152
Firâdh, battle of, 90
Firuzân, 174, 257
Fostât, 243, 247, 329
Free-thinkers, 452
Free-will, 452
Fujâa, a rebel, burned to death, 29
Gabala (Jabala), 203
Gabriel, 25
Gadara, 152
Garden of Death, 43
‘Garden of the Coreish,’ 317, 320
Gaza, 206
Ghâficky, _Al_, the regicide, 335 _note_, 340
Ghâlib, his song at Câdesîya, 168
Ghassân, _Beni_, 69, 87, 202
Ghatafân, _Beni_, 23, 25, 27
Ghauth, _Beni_, 24
Ghâzies, 382
Ghimâs (Câdesîya), 168, 171
Ghîzeh, 243
Ghôr, 97, 150, 152, 205
Ghûta, 144
Gilead, 141
Greeks, in Egypt, 242
Gregory, 299
Habîb, 394
Hadhramaut, 21, 56
Hafîr, 72
Hajjâj, 445
Hakam ibn Jabala, 333
Hakîm ibn Hizâm, 340
Hâma, 199
Hamadan, 256, 257
Hamza, 44
Hâni, 435
Hanîfa, _Beni_, 38 _et seq._, 44, 45, 48
Hanifite, the, Aly’s wife, 89
Hantzala, 337
Hantzala, _Beni_, 30
Haphsa, widow of Mahomet, 2, 231, 307, 353
Haram, at Jerusalem, 209
Haram, in Hejâz, 263
Harîr, or Night of Clangour (Câdesîya), 168, 173
Harôra, 389
Harrân, 217
Hasan, 65, 350, 359, 394, 414;
becomes Caliph, 418;
abdicates, 419, 422, 442
Hâshim, _Beni_, 227
Hâshim ibn Otba, 153, 172, 179 _et seq._;
killed at Siffîn, 382
Hassân ibn Thâbit, 202, 343
Haurân, 205
Hawâb, dogs of, 354
Hawâzin, _Beni_, 26, 27
Hebron, 97
Hegira, 1;
era established, 271
Hejer, 47, 50
Heliopolis, 241, 242
Heraclius, 67, 97, 201;
death of, 243
Hims, 198, 216
Himyar, 51;
troops, 146
Hind, daughter of Nómân, 265
Hindia, western branch of Euphrates, 70, 135, 175
Hind, wife of Abu Sofiân, 237, 277
Hîra, 49, 68, 76, 78;
capitulates, 79 _et seq._, 85, 127, 161, 164;
reoccupied, 178
Hît, 190, 199
Hobâb, 4
Hodeibía, 226, 386
Hodzeifa, 18, 51, 307
Hodzeil, 85, 90
Holwân, 190, 249, 256
Horcus, 90
Horcûs, 251
Hormuz, 72, 112
Hormuzân, 166, 250, 252, 254;
murder of, 293
Honey-bee, part of the Lord’s host, 257
Horr, 436 _et seq._
Hosein, 65, 394, 414, 434;
march to Kûfa, 435 _et seq._;
death, 440
Hotem, 48, 49
Houries, 105
Ibn Aámir, Governor of Bussorah, 305, 317, 326;
sends help for Othmân, 334, 347
Ibn Abbâs, 282, 345, 350, 355;
Governor of Bussorah, 368, 393, 394, 396, 409
Ibn Abu Sarh, 248, 290, 298, 299, 324, 326, 329
Ibn Backîla, 82
Ibn Honeif, 347, 356 _et seq._
Ibn Ishâc, 21
Ibn Khaldûn, vi
Ibn Masûd, 270, 304, 307;
death of, 311
Ibn Muljam, the assassin, 412;
body burned, 414
Ibn Sauda (Ibn Saba), 316, 362
Ibn Zobeir, 353, 367, 391, 430, 435, 434, 443;
death, 446
Iddat, interval before cohabitation, 75
Ikrima, 18, 39, 51, 52, 55, 57, 58, 93, 97, 108;
death, 111
Imâmate in Aly’s family, 417, 451
Imprecation of Caliphs, 394, 421
Imrulcays, _Beni_, 30
Indian Ocean, 296
Irâc Araby, 70;
field measurement, 230, 249, 308, 348
Isfandiar, 258
Islam for Arabia, 17, 224
Ispahan, 259
Istakhr (Persepolis), 249, 256
Iwân, 180
Iyâdh, 68, 84, 87, 89, 217
Iyâdh, _Beni_, 190, 217
Iyâs ibn Cabîsa, 78, 80
Jabala, 87, 88, 202
Jabân, 127, 132
Jâbia, 94, 97, 205, 207, 208, 235
Jacob’s Pillow, 209
Jadîla, _Beni_, 24, 139
Jalenûs, 174, 175
Jalôla, battle of, 187
Jarîr, 133, 139, 376
Jârjea, 97, 107, 109
Jarûd, 47, 49
Jaulân, 94, 141
Jazia, tribute, 218
Jehâd, Sura, 167
Jerâsh, 153
Jerusalem, 202, 206;
capitulation, 207
Jews, 153, 211;
expelled from Kheibar, 224, 452
Jeyfar, 51
Jezîra, 69
Jobeir, 269
Jobeir ibn Motím, 340
Jôf, 68
John, son of Zacharias, his tomb, 206
Jondob, 304, 318
Joppa, 206
Jordan (Ordonna), 153, 205
Jorf, 8, 96
Jûdi, 87, 88
Jundai-Sabûr, 252
Káb, the Rabbin, 236, 279, 310
Kâbul, 296
Kahânat (soothsaying), 26
Karoon, river, 251, 252
Kaskar, 127
Kelb, _Beni_, 87, 415
Kerâmat, 80
Kerbala, 437;
tragedy of, 438
Kermân, 259, 260, 297
Khabûr, 191
Khâcân, 259
Khaffân, 128
Khâlid ibn Saîd, 17, 53;
his defeat, 92;
death, 94
Khâlid ibn Welîd, 18;
his character, 21;
discomfits Toleiha, 22 _et seq._, 27;
attacks Mâlik ibn Noweira, 32;
marries his widow, 34;
and Mojâa’s daughter, 46;
the ‘Sword of the Lord,’ 68;
in Irâc, 72 _et seq._;
kills Hormuz, 73;
speech, 75, 82;
cruelty, 76, 86, 79;
frets at inaction, 84, 88;
pilgrimage incognito, 91;
transferred to Syria, 100;
march across desert, 101;
commands on the Yermûk, 106 _et seq._;
deposed, 111, 143;
storms Damascus, 146; 199 _et seq._;
received back into favour, 204, 207, 216 _et seq._;
arraigned for malversation, 219;
death, 221, 276, 284
Khanâfis, 138
Khandac, Trench of Sapor, 71, 160, 165
Khansa, Al, 28
Kharanba, 347, 402
Khârejites, 388 _et seq._;
hostile attitude towards Aly, 395;
defeated at Nehrwân, 399;
origin of name, 400;
émeutes, 405, 443, 444, 454
Khaulân, 54
Khawarnac palace, 79, 82, 161
Khazraj, _Beni_, 4, 5, 61
Kheibar, 22, 64, 224
Khirrît, the Khârejite rebel, 405
Khorasan, 259
Khuzistân, 249, 250
Kibla, 209
Kinda, _Beni_, 56
Kindy, _Al_, 23, 75, 220, 416, 452
Kinnisrîn (Chalcis), 199, 200, 204
Kirckesia, 190, 199
Kremer, Herr von, vii
Kubbet al Sakhra, 209
Kûfa, 70;
founded, 193, 195 _et seq._, 216;
threatened by Yezdegird, 256, 270, 297;
change of governors, 303;
émeute, 317, 329, 348;
assists Aly, 359, 364;
seat of Aly’s government, 369;
indifferent to Aly, 398, 403
Kûtha, 179
Lackît, 51
Lady’s Castle, the, 73
Lakhmite dynasty, 69, 78
Laodicea, 199
Leila, 34, 36, 41;
Abu Bekr’s son enamoured of her, 272
Lesser Pilgrimage, 329
Levant, 298
Lydda, 206
Maâb, 97, 153
Maára, 199
Madzâr, Battle of, 74
Mahomet, death of, 1;
burial, 5, 20, 27, 36, 38;
woman betrothed to him, 59, 76, 223, 224, 286;
his ring, 314, 354;
pulpit, 425
Mâhra, 18, 51, 52
Mâlik, _Beni_, 30
Mâlik ibn Noweira, 30 _et seq._, 221, 222
Mamûn, Al, 450, 452
Marásh (Germanica), 201
Marj al Soffar, 94
Marj Arjûn, 206
Mary, Coptic maid, 276
Masbazân, 190
Mascala, 406
Masjid al Acksa, at Jerusalem, 209
Maskat, 51
Masûd, brother of Mothanna, 137
Masûdy, 309
Mecca, 52, 263, 351
Medâin, 67, 70, 84, 162, 179;
western suburb taken, 181;
capture of city, 183;
spoil, 184;
jewelled carpet, 185, 193
Medîna threatened, 10
Mehrân, 135
Melchite and Maronite patriarchs, 248
Membaj, 377
Memphis, 241
Menbij (Hierapolis), 201
Merve, 259, 450
Merwân, 300, 322, 324, 332, 338, 339, 354, 372, 429;
Caliph, 446
Mesopotamia, 69;
Upper, 217
Micdâd, 288, 290
Minas, 200
Ministers of religion, 270
Miracle of lake, 48;
of the sea, 49;
of Darâbgird, 260
Misr, 241
Moâdz ibn Jabal, 56, 132;
dies in plague, 235
Moánna, 74
Mocarran, sons of, 14
Modeya, 90
Moghîra ibn Shoba, Governor of Bussorah, 192;
deposed, 264;
appointed to Kûfa, 269, 278, 284, 288, 345, 423, 425, 429
Moghîra, the Thackîfite, 338, 340
Mohâjir, 18, 52, 56, 57, 58
Mohakkem, 42, 44
Mohammed, doctor of Bussorah, 86
Mohammed, Hanify, son of Aly, 350, 381
Mohammed ibn Coteira, 333
Mohammed ibn Maslama, 194, 248, 325, 333
Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr, 302, 313, 330, 338, 339, 360;
Governor of Egypt, 372, 392, 394, 402;
killed, 403
Mohammed, son of Abu Hodzeifa, 302, 313, 330, 370
Mohammed, son of Talha, 391
‘Moharram,’ the, 442
Mojâa, 40 _et seq._, 44;
Khâlid marries his daughter, 46
Mondzir, chief of Bahrein, 47
Moseilama, 18, 23;
marries Sajâh, 31, 38;
killed, 43;
sayings, 45
Mosque of Omar, 209
Motammim, 34 _et seq._
Motázelites, 451 _et seq._
Mothanna, 50, 67, 74, 84, 101, 112 _et seq._;
retrieves defeat at Bridge, 131;
gains battle of Boweib, 135;
his horse, ‘the Rebel,’ 136;
suspended, 139;
character, 135, 139, 155;
death, 159;
his widow Selma, 159, 170
_Mothers of the Faithful_, Mahomet’s widows, 59, 225, 278
‘Mount of the Eagle,’ 103
Muâvia, 218;
appointed Governor of Syria, 237;
his mother Hind, 277, 294;
attacked by Romans, 297, 310, 319, 326;
sends help to Othmân, 334, 345;
letter to Aly, 349;
machinations against Cays, 372;
joined by Amru, 373;
marches to meet Aly, 378;
at battle of Siffîn, 379 _et seq._;
arbitration, 386;
saluted Caliph, 394;
gains Egypt, 403;
raid against Irâc, 407;
visits Mosul, 408;
truce with Aly, 410;
escapes assassination, 412;
sole Caliph, 419;
declares Yezîd heir apparent, 429;
death, 433
Mucoucus, 241 _et seq._
Muedzzin, 175, 238
Muhâjerîn, or Refugees, 5
Mukhtâr, 445
Mundzir, Gharûr, 49
Mundzir, Prince of Hîra, 82
Murad, _Beni_, 55
Mûsa, conqueror of Spain, 86
Muslim, killed, 435
Mûta, 8, 22, 82
Nablûs, 206
Nahr Shîr, 84, 179
Nâila, Othmân’s wife, 315, 339;
her fingers hung up at Damascus, 342, 348
Najaf, 79;
Sea of, 135, 161, 414
Najrân, 53, 55;
Christians of, 223
Namârick, 128
Namr, _Beni_, 31, 134, 137, 190
Narsa, 127
Naval enterprise, 264, 300
Nefûd, desert, 101
Negus of Abyssinia, 223
Nehâvend, 266;
battle of, 257, 278
Nestorians, 49
Night of Clangour (Câdesîya), 168, 173
Nile, 241, 242, 245;
Omar’s letter to, 246
Nisibîn, 216, 217
Nóeim ibn Mocarrin, 258
Nojeir, 57, 64
Nokheila, 401
Nómân ibn Mocarrin, 14, 251, 252, 256;
his death, 257
Nómân, Prince of Hîra, 79
Noseir, 86
Nubians, 242
Obeidallah, son of Abbâs, his little children put to death, 408
Obeidallah, son of Omar, 381
Obeidallah, son of Ziâd, 435 _et seq._, 444
Obna, 10
Obolla, 76, 191, 192
Odzeib, 160, 171
Ohod, 22, 44
Okeidar, 87, 88
Okkâsha, 25
Omân, 21, 47, 50
Omar, described, 2, 275, 283, 4, 6, 9, 18, 28 _note_;
angry with Khâlid, 34, 46, 90;
mourns for his brother Zeid, 45, 50;
frees all Arab slaves, 64;
judge, 65;
deposes Khâlid, 111, 114;
accession to Caliphate, 125, 132;
orders new levies, 133, 156;
receives tidings of victory at Câdesîya, 177;
weeps at seeing spoil, 189;
forbids advance on Persia, 189, 203, 249;
visits Jerusalem, 207 _et seq._;
journeys to Jâbia, 216;
arraigns Khâlid, 219;
his Dewân, 225;
compiles Corân, 231;
administration of famine, 232;
in the plague, 234;
progress through Syria, 236;
entertained by a bishop, 236;
performs pilgrimage, 238;
conquers Egypt, 239 _et seq._;
letter to the Nile, 246;
releases Hormuzân, 253;
pressed to allow advance on Persia, 255;
sends army against Persia, 256;
miraculous interposition of, to save Saria, 261;
enlarges square at Mecca, 263;
dread of naval enterprise, 264;
acquits Abu Mûsa, 267;
establishes era of Hegira, 271;
simplicity, 273;
marries Omm Kolthûm, 276;
last pilgrimage, 278;
assassination, 280;
appoints Electors, 280;
death, 283;
burial, 285, 286, 306, 456
Omeyyad, _Beni_, 294, 316;
dynasty, 443, 446;
in Spain, 449
Omm al Banîn, 315
Omm al Fâdhl, widow of Abbâs, 355
Omm Ayman, 65
Omm Farwa, 58, 120
Omm Habîba, 336
Omm Keis, 152
Omm Kirfa, 27
Omm Kolthûm, 203;
Omar’s wife, 276, 413, 415
Omm Salma, 55
Omm Siml, 27
Omm Walad, 265, 272
Omra, or Lesser Pilgrimage, 329
Ordinances of Omar, 212, 452
Ordonna (Jordan), 153, 205
Orontes, 199, 203
Orthodoxy, intolerant, 455
Orwa, 318
Osâma, expedition, 8 _et seq._, 16, 325
Otba, 191, 249, 251, 264
Othmân, 275;
appointed Elector, 280;
elected Caliph, 291, 294;
appoints Abu Sarh over Egypt, 298;
outlook darkens, 302;
recension of Corân, 307;
palace, 309;
puts down unlawful amusements, 311;
enlarges square of Káaba, 312;
embellishes Mosque at Medîna, 312;
alters rites of pilgrimage, 313;
loses Prophet’s ring, 314;
sinks wells, 314;
marries Nâila, 315;
gives in to Kûfa, 320;
Aly expostulates with him, 321;
appeals to the people, 322;
last pilgrimage, 323;
contumeliously treated, 324;
complaints invited, 325;
conference with governors, 326;
attacked by regicides, 329 _et seq._;
addresses them, 335;
blockade, 337;
slain, 339;
character, 341;
bloody shirt hung up at Damascus, 348, 374, 376
Othmân ibn al Aás, 52
Othmân ibn Honeif (_see_ Ibn Honeif)
Oxus, 259, 296
Oyeina, 23, 25, 27, 28, 315
Palestine, 200, 205, 211
Paradise, 105
Patriarch, Jerusalem, 208;
Maronite, 248
Pella, 150
Persepolis, 249, 255
Persian Gulf, 191
Persians, 72 _et seq._, 76, 90
Persia, war in, 296;
Shîyite, 455
Phacûsa (Tel Fâkhus), 245
Pilgrimage, 65;
Khâlid’s incognito, 91;
rules altered by Othmân, 313, 323
‘Pilgrimage to Nejd,’ 101
Plague, 234
Polygamy, 457
Predestination, 211, 235
Promised Land, 95
Rabadza, 13, 16
Rabia, 21
Rajjâl, 39, 41
Rama (Arimathea), 206
Ramh, 206
Râm Hormuz, 249, 251
Ramleh, 206, 211
_Readers_ of Corân, 45, 231, 381
‘Refugees,’ 5, 32, 126, 227
Regicides attack Medîna, 329;
return with document bearing Othmân’s seal, 331
Register (Dewân) of Arab race, 229
Rei, captured, 258
Retribution, law of, 202
Ricca, 216, 377
Ring of Mahomet, 314
‘River of Blood,’ 76
Roha, 199, 216, 217
Roman army, 90, 92, 104, 190;
and fleet, 215
Roman empire, 66
Rustem, 126, 155, 163;
forebodings of, 165;
killed, 174
Sabât, 138, 179
Sacalâr 152
Sád ibn (Mâlik) Abu Wackkâs, 157;
marches to Irác, 158;
marries Selma, Mothanna’s widow, 159;
reorganises army, 159;
battle of Câdesîya, 167;
upbraided by Selma, 170;
captures Medâin, 183;
his castle, 194;
deposed, 268;
appointed Elector, 280, 287;
again appointed to Kûfa, 303;
superseded, 303, 326, 343
Sád ibn Obáda, 3 _et seq._, 6, 371
Saffâh, _Al_, ‘the Bloody,’ 449
Safia, 37, 76
Safwân, 15, 351
Sahba, 89
Saîd, Governor of Kûfa, 306;
expelled by citizens, 319;
servant killed, 320, 353
Sajâh, Prophetess, 23, 30 _et seq._, 39, 85
Sakatia, 129
Sakûn, _Beni_, 56
Salahiya, in Egypt, 241
Sâlim, 42
Salmân, 183
Salûba, 83
Samaritans, 153, 211
Samsât (Samosata), 201
_Samsât_, the sword, 53, 92
Sanâa, 54, 56
Saria, 260
Sawâd, 83, 179, 194;
‘Garden of Coreish’, 317 _et seq._, 320
Sayhad, desert, 57
Sea of Najaf, 71
Sebastia, 206
Second coming, 317
Sedîr, palace, 82
Sejestan, 259, 370
Seleucia, 70, 179
Service of victory;
at Hîra, 82, 83;
at Medâin, 184
Servile population, 344
Shahrîrân, 112, 113
Shaizar, 199
Shamir, 438, 440, 445
Shanas, Roman general, 198
Shât al Arab, 191
Sheibân, _Beni_, 31, 50
Sherâf, 158
Shîyas, 448 _et seq._, 451;
tolerant, 455
Shorahbîl, 18, 39, 40, 94, 97, 108, 152, 153, 205, 208, 237
Shoreih, 391, 394
Showeil, 80
Shuhîb, 413
Shusan, 252
Shuster (Tostar), 251
Sicily, 450
Siffîn, 378;
battle of, 379 _et seq._
Sinnimâr, 79
Sirhân, Wady, 102
Sirîn, 86
Siroes, 67, 84, 127, 155
Slavery, female, 273, 457
Slaves, Arab, set free, 68
Society, Moslem, 271, 273 _et seq._
Sohâr, 51
Soheil, 96
Sommeyya, 290, 380
Songstresses, two, mutilated, 59
Soofeeism, 455
Soonnies, 455
Sophronius, Bishop of Jerusalem, 208, 210
Spain, 449
Spoil, at Câdesîya, 176;
at Medâin, 184;
at Jalôla, 188
Succession, 7, 286, 427 _et seq._
Sudân, the regicide, 340
Suez Canal, 244
Suleim, _Beni_, 26, 27
Sunh, _Al_, 121
_Sunnat_, 451, 455
Sûra, 179
Sûr al Rûm, 377
Sûras, read before battle, 167;
at Medaîn, 184;
how compiled, 231
Sûs (Shushan), 252
Suwâ, 103
‘Sword of God,’ ‘Sword of the Lord,’ name of Khâlid, 68, 77, 107
Syria, attacked, 94;
east of Jordan, described, 141;
Northern, 198 _et seq._, 205, 211, 215;
field measurement, 230;
sends grain to Hejâz, 233, 297, 348, 350, 370, 374;
invaded by Aly, 377, 408
Syrian desert, 68
Tabari, vi, 21, 77
Tadmor, 103, 154
Tadzâric, 98
Tâghlib, _Beni_, 31, 89, 137, 190;
Christian, 218, 406
Tâhir, 53
Tâhirite dynasty, 450
Tâk i Kesra, 179
Talha, 6, 117;
appointed Elector, 280, 287, 329 _et seq._;
sends son to protect Othmân, 334, 342 _et seq._, 350;
retires to Mecca, 352, 353;
marches on Bussorah, 354;
its occupation, 356 _et seq._;
Battle of Camel, 361 _et seq._;
killed, 364, 366
Tay, _Beni_, 15, 22;
reclaimed, 24, 27, 131, 436
Tâyif, 52, 53, 55
Tebûk, 55
Tekrît, 181, 190
Tell Azâz, 201
Temîm, _Beni_, 15;
described, 30, 48, 360, 436
Thâbit ibn Cays, 22, 42, 318
Thackîf, _Beni_, 131
Theocratic faction, 388
Theodore, 198
Theodoric, 97
Thinia, 90
Thomâma, 48
‘Three Hundred’ of Bedr, 95
Tiberias, 153, 205, 208
Tiflis, 298
Tigris, 71, 130, 179;
swum by Arab cavalry, 183;
canals, 230
Tihâma, 52
Timoor, passage of Tigris by, 183
Tithe, 218
Toleiha, 13, 17, 21 _et seq._;
defeated, 25, 26, 164, 173, 257, 318
Tostar (Shuster), 251
Tower of Babel, 70
Tradition, 20
Trench of Sapor, 71, 160, 165
Tripoli (Africa), 247, 299
Tumlât, valley of, 245
Turks, 259, 297;
mercenaries, 453
Veiled prophet, 52
Veil, the, 265, 458
_Victory_, Service of, 82
Villains’ Road, the, 53
Volcano near Medîna, 263
Voluptuousness, 273
Wacûsa, 98
Wâdi al Cora, 10, 94
Wahshi, 43
Walaja, battle of, 75
Wâsit, 447
‘Waterer of the two Holy Places’ (Abbâs), 233
Welîd ibn Ocba, 87, 93, 94, 303;
deposed for inebriety, 304, 394
Welîd the Caliph, 447
White Palace of Medâin, 180
Widows of Mahomet, 59, 225, 278
Windmill, 279
Wine forbidden, as a bath, 219;
intemperance in, 273
Women, Moslem, fight, 138;
and children give _coup de grâce_ to wounded enemies, 175;
influence of captive, 273
Yabna, 206
Yála, 347
Year, Mussulman, viii
‘Year of Ashes,’ 232
Yemâma, 21, 38 _et seq._;
battle of, 41
Yemen, 18, 21, 55, 56
Yenbó, 245
Yerbóa, _Beni_, 30 _et seq._
Yermûk, 98
Yezdegird, 127, 155;
deputation to, at Medâin, 162, 251, 255, 258;
his death, 259, 297
Yezîd, 95, 97, 108, 198, 207, 218, 276
Yezîd ibn Cays, 388
Yezîd, son of Muâvia, declared heir apparent, 429;
becomes Caliph, 433, 434, 443, 446
Zab, battles on the, 445, 449
Zeid, brother of Omar, 36;
killed, 42, 45
Zeid ibn Thâbit, 123;
compiles Corân, 231, 309, 333, 343
Zeinab, 276, 415
Ziâd, 56, 188, 265, 267, 368, 407, 423;
declared brother of Muâvia, 424, 429
Ziâd ibn Lebîd, 293
Zibricân, 15, 48, 50
Zimmies, 83, 194, 301, 318
Zobeid, _Beni_, 53
Zobeir, 6, 240 _et seq._;
appointed Elector, 280, 287, 309, 327, 328, 329 _et seq._;
sends son to protect Othmân, 334 _et seq._, 350;
retires to Mecca, 352;
marches on Busserah, 354;
its occupation by, 356;
Battle of Camel, 361 _et seq._;
killed, 364, 366
Zohra, 164, 176, 179
Zohra, _Beni_, 289
Zomeil, 90
Zoroastrians, 72, 259, 260
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Manuscripts of the whole work have, however, been procured, and are
now being published on the Continent, but not in time to be available
for this work. They will serve hereafter to correct, perhaps, some of
the doubtful points of the history on which, from the scantiness of the
material, I may have gone astray.
[2] _Geschichte der Chalifen_, 3 vols., Mannheim, 1846–1851.
[3] _Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen_, Wien, 1875.
[4] The date ordinarily given as that of the Prophet’s death is the
12th Rabi I. See note p. 280, _Life of Mahomet_, vol. iv.
For the term ‘Companion,’ technically used to signify all who had a
personal acquaintance with the Prophet, see _ibid._ p. 564.
The era of the Hegira was established by Omar, five or six years after
the Prophet’s death. The first Moharram of the first year of the Hegira
corresponds with 19th April, A.D. 622. The real _hegira_,
or flight of Mahomet from Mecca, took place two months later (June 20).
See _ibid._ p. 145, and _C. de Perceval_, vol. iii. p. 17.
[5] _Al Siddîck_; _ibid_. vol. ii. 102, 220. He was also
called ‘the Sighing one,’ from his compassionate nature.
[6] Meaning a palm-trunk left for the beasts to come and rub themselves
upon; a metaphor for a person much resorted to for counsel. Hobâb was
the chief whom Mahomet employed to reconnoitre the enemy at Bedr.