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By Root 21366 0

year of his age, and mercifully recommended to his children, that they would despatch the murderer by a single stroke. ^* The sepulchre of Ali ^175 was concealed from the tyrants of the house of Ommiyah; ^176 but in the fourth age of the Hegira, a tomb, a temple, a city, arose near the ruins of Cufa. ^177 Many thousands of the Shiites repose in holy ground at the feet of the vicar of God; and the desert is vivified by the numerous and annual visits of the Persians, who esteem their devotion not less meritorious than the pilgrimage of Mecca.

[Footnote *: Ali had determined to supersede all the lieutenants in the different provinces. Price, p. 191. Compare, on the conduct of Telha and Zobeir, p. 193 - M.]

[Footnote !: See the very curious circumstances which took place before and during her flight. Price, p. 196. - M.]

[Footnote !!: The reluctance of Ali to shed the blood of true believers is strikingly described by Major Price's Persian historians. Price, p. 222. - M.]

[Footnote @: See (in Price) the singular adventures of Zobeir. He was murdered after having abandoned the army of the insurgents. Telha was about to do the same, when his leg was pierced with an arrow by one of his own party The wound was mortal. Price, p. 222. - M.]

[Footnote @@: According to Price, two hundred and eighty of the Benni Beianziel alone lost a right hand in this service, (p. 225.) - M]

[Footnote *: She was escorted by a guard of females disguised as soldiers. When she discovered this, Ayesha was as much gratified by the delicacy of the arrangement, as she had been offended by the familiar approach of so many men. Price, p. 229. - M.]

[Footnote 174: The plain of Siffin is determined by D'Anville (l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 29) to be the Campus Barbaricus of Procopius.]

[Footnote !!!: The Shiite authors have preserved a noble instance of Ali's magnanimity. The superior generalship of Moawiyah had cut off the army of Ali from the Euphrates; his soldiers were perishing from want of water. Ali sent a message to his rival to request free access to the river, declaring that under the same circumstances he would not allow any of the faithful, though his adversaries, to perish from thirst. After some debate, Moawiyah determined to avail himself of the advantage of his situation, and to reject the demand of Ali. The soldiers of Ali became desperate; forced their way through that part of the hostile army which commanded the river, and in their turn entirely cut off the troops of Moawiyah from the water. Moawiyah was reduced to make the same supplication to Ali. The generous caliph instantly complied; and both armies, with their cattle enjoyed free and unmolested access to the river. Price, vol. i. p. 268, 272 - M.]

[Footnote *: His son Hassan was recognized as caliph in Arabia and Irak; but voluntarily abdicated the throne, after six or seven months, in favor of Moawiyah St. Martin, vol. xi. p 375. - M.]

[Footnote 175: Abulfeda, a moderate Sonnite, relates the different opinions concerning the burial of Ali, but adopts the sepulchre of Cufa, hodie fama numeroque religiose frequentantium celebratum. This number is reckoned by Niebuhr to amount annually to 2000 of the dead, and 5000 of the living, (tom. ii. p. 208, 209.)]

[Footnote 176: All the tyrants of Persia, from Adhad el Dowlat (A.D. 977, D'Herbelot, p. 58, 59, 95) to Nadir Shah, (A.D. 1743, Hist. de Nadir Shah, tom. ii. p. 155,) have enriched the tomb of Ali with the spoils of the people. The dome is copper, with a bright and massy gilding, which glitters to the sun at the distance of many a mile.]

[Footnote 177: The city of Meshed Ali, five or six miles from the ruins of Cufa, and one hundred and twenty to the south of Bagdad, is of the size and form of the modern Jerusalem. Meshed Hosein, larger and more populous, is at the distance of thirty miles.]

The persecutors of Mahomet usurped the inheritance of his children; and the champions of idolatry became the supreme heads of his religion and empire. The opposition of Abu Sophian had been