Moawiyah was the first caliph that introduced the meksourah into the mosque, or that spoke to the people sitting.* The mek. sourah is a place raised above, and separate from the rest of the mosque, where the caliph, who was chief pontiff in religious, as well as sovereign in civil affairs, began and chanted the prayers, which are, as one may say, the public office of the Mussulmans. It was in this place also, that he made the cotbah to the people, which is a sort of homily or preachment. Before his time it used to follow the prayers, but Moawiyah commenced with it, for fear he should forget what he had prepared to say. † He was also the first caliph that obliged the people to swear allegiance to his son. The first that laid post horses upon the roads.§

An Arabian robber being once condemned to have his hand cut off, Moawiyah pardoned him for the sake of four very ingenious verses that he made and repeated to him on the spot. They remark that this was the first sentence pronounced among the Mussulmans that was not put in execution; the caliphs not having as yet, before this instance of Moawiyah, taken the liberty of showing favour to those whom the ordinary judges had condemned.

Abulfeda relates the following as a remarkable instance of his patience and clemency. Arwah, the daughter of Hareth, the son of Abdal Motaleb, the son of Hashem, came to make him a visit. She was his aunt, a very old woman,

+ Abulfaragius.

Abulfeda. D'Herbelot. Abulfeda. "Moawiyah was also the first caliph who allowed Mussulmans to embark in ships, and who sent maritime expeditions against the enemies of his empire. Previous to his reign no Arab had been permitted to go on board a vessel: the cause of the prohibition was as follows. When Egypt was conquered by Amrou Ebn Aas, in the reign of Omar, that caliph wrote to his lieutenant for a description of the sea. Amrou replied: The sea is a great pool which some inconsiderate people furrow, looking like worms on logs of wood.' On the receipt of this answer, Omar forbade all navigation amongst the Mussulmans, and from that time until the reign of Moawiyah all transgressors were severely punished. The real cause of this prohibition was, that when the Arabs began their conquests they were entirely unaccustomed to that element; while, on the contrary, the Romans and the Franks, through their almost continual practice, and their education in the midst of the waves, were enabled to navigate the seas, and, by dint of experience and successful enterprize, to become almost congenial to that element."-Don Pascual de Gayangos.

D'Herbelot from Rabialakyar.

and of Ali's branch of the family. As soon as Moawiyah had saluted her, she began to reproach him, "O nephew," said she, "you have been very ungrateful, and injurious to your cousin, who was a companion of the apostle; and you called yourself by a name that was none of your own, and took possession of what you had no right to. And our family exceeded all men in sufferings for this religion, till God took his prophet to reward his labours, and to exalt his station; and then you insulted us, and we were amongst you like the children of Israel in the family of Pharaoh; though Ali was to the prophet, as Aaron was to Moses." Upon this, Amrou, who was then present, had no patience, but took her up, and said, “Hold your tongue, old woman, and do not talk thus like one out of your wits." What," says she, "do you prate to me who am an honest woman, while your mother was known all over Mecca to be of very easy virtue, and as you were most like old Aasi, he was forced to father you?" Moawiyah, however, only said to her, “God forgive what is past: what would you have?" She answered, Two thousand pieces, to buy an estate for the poor of our family; and two thousand more to marry our poor relations: and two thousand more for myself to secure me in time of extremity." All which was, by Moawiyah's command, immediately paid down to her.

This caliph was buried in Damascus, where he had established the seat of the caliphate; and that city always retained this prerogative of dignity so long as the Ommiyades, or defenders of Moawiyah reigned. In the time of the Abbasides it was transferred to Anbar, Haschemyah, and Bagdad. The inscription of Moawiyah's seal was, "Every work hat its reward," or as others say, There is no strength but in God."

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It was during the reign of Moawiyah that some of the principa incidents connected with the Paradise of Sheddad the son of Ad,+ are said to have taken place. This Paradise, though invisible, is still supposed to be standing in the deserts of Aden, and sometimes, though very rarely, God permits it to be seen. Lane in his notes to the Arabian Nights relates the following story :

"Abdallah the son of Aboo Kilabeh, proceeding one day over the deserts of El Yemen in search of a runaway camel, chanced to arrive at a

The Addites are a race of ancient Arabs: the smallest of their tribe is said to have been 60 cubits high, and the largest 100 cubits!

vast city encompassed by enormous fortifications, around the circuit of which were pavilions rearing their heads into the clouds. As he approached it, he imagined that there must be inhabitants within it; but he found it desolate and in utter solitude.

"I alighted from my camel,' says he, and entered the city. I found the fortifications had two enormous gates, the like of which I had never seen for size and height, and these were set with a variety of jewels and jacinths, white, red, yellow, and green. In a state of terror, and with a wandering mind, I entered the fortifications, and found them to be as extensive as the city; they comprised elevated pavilions, every one of which contained lofty chambers, constructed of gold and silver, and adorned with rubies, chrysolites, pearls, and various coloured jewels. The folding-doors of these pavilions were as beautiful as the gates of the fortifications, and the floors were overlaid with large pearls and with balls like hazel-nuts, composed of musk and ambergris and saffron. And I came into the midst of the city, but I saw not a single created being of the sons of Adam; and I almost died of terror. I then looked down from the summits of the lofty chambers and pavilions, and saw rivers running beneath them; and in the great thorough-fare streets of the city were fruit-bearing trees, and tall palm-trees; and the construction of the city was of alternate bricks of gold and silver so I said within myself, No doubt this is the Paradise promised in the world to come.'

"I carried away of the jewels, which were as its gravel, and of the musk which was as its dust, as much as I could bear, and returned to my district, and acquainted my people with the occurrence. And when the news reached Moawiyah, he wrote to his lieutenant, and I was summoned to his presence. And I informed the caliph of what I had seen, and showed him the pearls, and the balls of ambergris, musk, and saffron; and the latter retained somewhat of their sweet scent, but the pearls were yellow and discoloured.

"At the sight of these Moawiyah wondered, and sent for Kaab-el-Ahbar, who, on hearing the story, said that the city was Irem-el-Emad, and accordingly related the following:

"Ad the Greater had two sons, Shedeed and Sheddad, and on the death of their father they reigned conjointly over the whole earth. At length Shedeed died, and his brother Sheddad ruled after him. Sheddad was fond of reading the ancient books, and when he met with descriptions of Paradise and of the world to come, his heart enticed him to build its like upon the earth. He had under his authority 100,000 kings, each of whom commanded 100,000 chieftains, and each of these were at the head of 100,000 soldiers. And he summoned them all before him, and said, 'I desire to make a Paradise upon earth. Depart ye therefore to the most pleasant and most spacious vacant tract in the earth, and build for me in it a city of gold and silver; for its gravel spread chrysolites, rubies, and pearls; and make columns of chrysolite as supports for the vaulted roofs. Fill the city with pavilions, and over the pavilions construct lofty chambers, and

A famous traditionist of the tribe of Hemyer, who embraced Islamism in the reign of Omar, and died in the year of the Hej. 32, during the reign of Othman; the anecdote therefore presents an anachronismi.

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beneath them plant, in the by-streets and great throughfare-streets, varieties of trees bearing different kinds of ripe fruits, and make rivers to run beneath them in channels of gold and silver.' To this they all replied, 'How can we accomplish that which you have described?' But he said, Know ye not that all the kings of the earth are under my authority! Depart to the mines and the pearl provinces: gather their contents and take ye from the hands of men such things as ye find: spare no exertions and beware of disobedience!'

"Sheddad then wrote to each of the kings of the earth, commanding them to collect all the above-mentioned riches that their subjects possessed, and to gather them from the mines; and all this was done in the space of twenty years. Then he sent forth geometricians, sages, labourers, and artificers from all countries and regions; and they dispersed themselves until they came to a desert, wherein was a vast open plain, clear from hills and mountains; in the plain were springs flowing and rivers gushing, and here they busied themselves in building the city according to his commands. Then the kings of the earth sent thither their gold and jewels and riches upon camels and in great ships, beyond all description and calculation: and the workmen laboured at the city for three hundred years. When it was completed, king Sheddad desired them to build around it impregnable fortifications, and to construct around the circuit of the fortifications a thousand pavilions, each with a thousand pillars beneath it, in order that each pavilion might hold a vizier. This also was accomplished in twenty years.

"Then Sheddad ordered his thousand viziers, and his chief officers and principal troops to prepare themselves for departing to Irem-el-Emad ; he also ordered those whom he chose from his women, his harem, his female slaves, and his eunuchs, to fit themselves out and they passed twenty years in equipping themselves. Then Sheddad proceeded with his troops, his women, and his slaves till he came within one day's journey of Irem-el-Eamad, when God sent down upon him and the obstinate infidels who accompanied him, a loud cry from the heaven of his power, and it destroyed them all by the vehemence of its sound. Neither Sheddad nor any that were with him arrived at the city, and God obliterated all traces of the road; and there that city remaineth until the day of judgment."

"At this narrative related by Kaab, Moawiyah wondered and asked if any one of mankind could arrive at that city. To which Kaab replied that one of the companions of the prophet,' like Abdallah, could do so, without doubt."

Esh Shaabe relates that when Sheddad was destroyed, his son Shedda: the Less reigned after him; and soon as the latter heard of his father's death, he ordered the body to be carried to Hadramant, where a sepulchre was excavated for him in a cavern. The corpse was then covered with seventy robes, interwoven with gold and adorned with precious jewels, and placed upon a couch in the cavern.

The history of Zobeide in the Arabian Nights is evidently founded upon this tradition, and it will be immediately recognized by all readers of Southey's poem of "Thalaba."

YEZID I., THE SON OF MOAWIYAH, THE SECOND CALIPH OF THE HOUSE OF OMMIYAH, AND THE SEVENTH AFTER

MOHAMMED.

Hejirah 60-64. A. D. 679-683.

He was

YEZID, the son of Moawiyah, was inaugurated caliph on the new moon of the month Rejeb, of the sixtieth year of the Hejirah, which coincides with the seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord six hundred and eighty.* born in the twenty-sixth year of the Hejirah, according to which account he was thirty-four (lunar) years old when he was saluted emperor. He was forthwith acknowledged lawful caliph in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia, and all the other Mohammedan countries. But the cities of Mecca and Medina, and some others of Chaldea, refused at first to submit themselves to him. Among the great ones none but Hosein and Abdallah the son of Zobeir opposed his succession, and they disputed the caliphate with him to their death.

He confirmed all his father's lieutenants and officers in their appointments. The governor of Medina was Walid the son of Otbah; of Cufah, Nooman the son of Bashir; of Bassorah, Obeidollah the son of Ziyad; of Mecca, Abdallah Amrou. After his accession, the object he had most at heart was to bring in those that had opposed his nomination as his father's heir and successor. With this view, he wrote the following letter to Walid governor of Medina. "In the name of the most merciful God. From Yezid emperor of the faithful to Walid the son of Otbah. Moawiyah was one of the servants of God, who honoured him and made him caliph, and extended his dominions, and established him. He lived his appointed time, and God took him to his mercy. He lived beloved, and died pure and innocent. Farewell. Hold Hosein, and Abdallah the son of Ammar, and Abdallah the son of Zobeir, close to the inauguration without any remission or relaxation." Walid, upon the receipt of this letter, sent for Merwan the son of Hakem, and consulted him on the contents of it. Merwan advised him to send for Hosein and Abdallah, and tender them the oath before they were apprized of the caliph's death; and if they refused to take it,

• MS. Hunt. No. 495. Abulfeda.