Then Amrou said to him, "You meant Amrou, but God meant Karijah."

The third of these conspirators, Abdarrhaman,* in the execution of his wicked design against Ali, had better success than his other two companions had against their intended victims. On his arrival at Cufah, he took up his lodgings at a woman's house, whose nearest relations had been killed at the battle of Naharwan, and who for that reason cherished in heart a strong desire of being revenged upon Ali.† Abdarrhaman, finding this woman in a position so favourable to his design, used his utmost efforts to gain her goodwill, at the same time making her an overture of marriage, to which she answered: "The dowry which I will have of the man that marries me, shall be three thousand drachmas of silver, a slave, a maid, and Ali's head." Abdarrhaman instantly accepted the conditions. When he therefore was proceeding to put his design in execution, she joined with him two other men, whose names were Derwan and Sheith, to assist him.‡

During all the month of Ramadan in which he was killed, Ali had several presages of his death, and in private, among his friends, used occasionally to let drop some words to that purpose. Once, after he had undergone a great deal of uneasiness, he was heard to say, "Alas! my heart, there is need of patience, for there is no remedy against death!" In short, Friday the seventeenth of this month being come, he went out of his house early in the morning to go to the mosque, and it was observed that the household birds made a great noise as he passed through his yard; and that one of his slaves having thrown a cudgel at them to make them quiet, he said to him, Let them alone, for their cries are only lamentations foreboding my death."

66

As soon as he came into the mosque, those three villains,

* D'Herbelot.

Price informs us that Abdarrhaman became violently enamoured of this woman, whose uncommon beauty and attractions he was unable to resist. Her name was Kettaumah. An Arab writer adds, "That her face was like the glorious reward of the virtuous, and the tresses which adorned her cheek like the black records of the villain's guilt."

Abulfeda says, Werdan and Shabib. The same letters may be read for both. D'Herbelot seems to have read it in Persian, in which writing, w is like d, and sometimes r. But Werdan and Shabib are the right names.

who waited for him, pretended to quarrel among themselves,

and drew their swords.

Derwan* made a blow at Ali, but missed him, and the blow fell upon the gate of the mosque. Abdarrhaman struck him upon the head, just in the same place where he had received a wound in the battle of Ahzab, which was fought in Mohammed's time, and that stroke was mortal. The three assassins had time to make their escape, without being apprehended. Derwan† crept home, where a man who had seen him with his sword in hand against Ali, went and killed him. Shabib took to his heels, and ran so well, that he was never caught. Abdarrhaman concealed himself for some time. When Ali was asked who was the author of such an enormous attempt against his life, he answered, "You shall soon hear tidings of him." In short a Mussulman having found Abdarrhaman hid in a corner, with his sword in his hand, asked him if it was not he that had wounded Ali; the assassin, willing to deny it, was constrained by his own conscience to confess it; and was instantly brought before Ali. Ali delivered him in custody to his eldest son Hasan, with orders to let him want nothing; and if he died of his wound, then to execute his murderer at one stroke only. Hasan punctually obeyed the command of his father, who died on the 19th, 20th, or 21st of the same month, that is, the third, fourth, or fifth day after he was wounded. This is the account which the learned D'Herbelot gives of the death of the murderer, taken, as I suppose, from out of his Persian authors. But Tabari and Abulfeda, authors of great account among the Arabians, relate it quite differently; Abulfeda says, "That first his hand was cut off, and then his foot on the opposite side; next they put out his eyes with a red hot iron, then cut out his tongue, and afterwards burned him;" to which he adds, "the curse of God be upon him." This account I take to be much the more probable, considering the heinousness of the crime and the temper of that people. For though it is not at all improbable that Ali gave such orders, yet I can by no means be induced to believe that they were so mercifully executed. Doubtful, however, as may be the manner of his death, it is quite certain that the heretics look upon him as a martyr. + Id.

* Werdin.

Abulfeda.

As to Ali's age, also, authors differ. Some say he was sixty-three, others sixty-six, and some fifty-nine. The time of his caliphate was five years all but three months. Neither are writers better agreed as to the place of his burial; according to some he was buried opposite to the mosque in Cufah, or according to others in the royal palace; while a third class again asserted that his son Hasan conveyed him to Medina, and laid him by the side of his wife Fatima.* The most probable opinion is, that he was buried in that place which, to this day, is visited by the Mussulmans as his tomb; at which a great many oblations are usually left by the devotees.

As to his person, he had a very red face, large eyes, a prominent belly, a bald head, a large beard; he was very hairy on the breast, rather short than middle-sized; of a good look, florid and youthful, and frequently smiling. He had in all nine wives, the first of whom was Fatima, Mohammed's daughter, during whose life he married no other. By her he had three children, Hasan, Hosein, and Mohassan, of whom the last died in infancy.

The second wife was Omm-al Nebiyin, by whom he had four children, Abdallah, Abbas, Othman, and Jaasar, who were all four killed at the battle of Kerbelah.t

His third wife, named Asimah, was the mother of Jahya and Aoun.

The fourth, whose name was Omm Habibah was the mother of Omar.

The sixth, whose name was Caulah, was the mother of Mohammed Ebn Hanifiyah, of whom we shall give a further account in the sequel of the history.

I find no particular mention of the names of the rest of his wives; two more sons, however, are mentioned, Mohammed the younger, and Amrou, who were born of some one or other of them.

Though there are but fourteen sons mentioned here, it is certain he had fifteen, whereof five only left any posterity behind them: namely, Hasan, Hosein, Mohammed Ebn Hanifiyah, Abbas, and Amrou. As for the number of his daughters, they are usually reckoned at eighteen.

Abulfeda says that in this opinion he chooses to follow Ebu Al Athir. + D'Herbelot.

This particular account of Ali's family may seem superfluous to some, but it will not be so regarded by those who consider the great changes and revolutions which have been made by it in the several succeeding generations of the Mussulmans, and of what importance it is throughout the whole course of their history.

Strange things are reported of Ali. One thing particularly deserving to be noticed is that his mother was delivered of him at Mecca, in the very temple itself; which never happened to any one else. The name that his mother gave him first was Caid; but Mohammed his cousin-german changed it into Ali.

Among the many surnames, or honourable titles, which the Mussulmans bestow upon Ali, there are two principal ones; the first of which is Wasi, which signifies, in Arabic, legatee, mandatary, executor of a man's will, and heir, “that is, of Mohammed. His second title is Mortada or Mortadi, which signifies "beloved by, or acceptable to, God." They called him, even whilst he was alive, Esed Allah algalib, "the victorious lion of God;" to which may be added, Haidar, which also in the Arabic language signifies "a lion." The Shii, who are his followers, or rather adorers, frequently call him, Faid alanwar, "the distributer of lights or graces.' And in Persian, Shah Mordman, "the king of men," and Shir Khoda "the lion of God."

The greatest part of the Mussulmans pretend that Ali was the first that embraced their religion. And according to tradition he was a very early Mussulman indeed, for it seems he made profession of that religion in his mother's womb. For all the time she was big of him he hindered her from prostrating herself before her idol which she used to worship. The form of benediction or blessing which the Mussulmans always add when they name him, is "God glorify the face of him." They say, moreover, that Mohammed, talking of him, said, "Ali is for me, and I am for him; he stands to me in the same rank as Aaron did to Moses; I am the town in which all knowledge is shut up, and he is the gate of it." However, these great eulogies did not hinder his name,

• D'Herbelot,

From whence it is that our European travellers corruptly call hi Mortis Ali, which the readers take to have been his name.

and that of all his family, from being cursed, and their persons excommunicated through all the mosques of the empire of the caliphs of the house of Ommiyah, from Moawiyah down to the time of Omar Ebn Abdalaziz, who suppressed this solemn malediction. There were besides several caliphs of the house of Abbas, who expressed a great aversion to Ali and all his posterity; such as Motaded and Motawakkel, to whom he is reported to have appeared in their sleep and threatened with his indignation. On the other hand, the Fatimite caliphs of Egypt caused his name to be added to that of Mohammed in the publication of the times of prayer, which is made from the turrets of the mosques.

It is said that the sepulchre of Ali was kept hid during the reign of the family of Ommiyah, and not discovered till the accession of the Abbasides, which is not credible. In the year 367 of the Hejirah (A.D. 977), Abhaudedaulat built a sumptuous monument over it, which the Persians generally call Konbud Faid alanwar, "the dome of the dispenser of the lights and graces." Now, notwithstanding the sepulchre of Ali, near the city of Cufah, is very well known, there are some of his sect who believe him to be still alive, and affirm, that he will come again at the end of the world, and fill the earth with justice. Some among them are so extravagant as to make him a divine person. The more moderate say, that he is not truly God, but that in a great many things he partakes of the divine nature.

66

Among all the Mohammedans alike Ali has a great reputation for wisdom. There is extant of his a Centiloquium," or a hundred sentences," which have been translated out of Arabic into Turkish and Persian. There is likewise a collection of verses by him under the title of "Anwar Alokail." And in the Bodleian library there is a large book of his sentences, a specimen whereof we have annexed to this history. But his most celebrated piece is that entitled "Jefr we Jame." It is written on parchment in a mystic character intermixed with figures, which narrate or typify all the grand events that are to happen from the foundation of Mussulmanism to the end of the world. This parchment, which is deposited in the hands of his family, has not up to this time been deciphered. Jaafer Sadek has indeed succeeded in partially interpreting it; but the entire explication of it is