abused his simplicity, the hopeless and venerable caliph expected the
approach of death: the brother of Ayesha marched at the head of the
assassins; and Othman, with the Koran in his lap, was pierced with
a multitude of wounds. [1731] A tumultuous anarchy of five days was
appeased by the inauguration of Ali: his refusal would have provoked a
general massacre. In this painful situation he supported the becoming
pride of the chief of the Hashemites; declared that he had rather serve
than reign; rebuked the presumption of the strangers; and required the
formal, if not the voluntary, assent of the chiefs of the nation. He
has never been accused of prompting the assassin of Omar; though Persia
indiscreetly celebrates the festival of that holy martyr. The quarrel
between Othman and his subjects was assuaged by the early mediation of
Ali; and Hassan, the eldest of his sons, was insulted and wounded in the
defence of the caliph. Yet it is doubtful whether the father of Hassan
was strenuous and sincere in his opposition to the rebels; and it is
certain that he enjoyed the benefit of their crime. The temptation was
indeed of such magnitude as might stagger and corrupt the most obdurate
virtue. The ambitious candidate no longer aspired to the barren sceptre
of Arabia; the Saracens had been victorious in the East and West; and
the wealthy kingdoms of Persia, Syria, and Egypt were the patrimony of
the commander of the faithful.

[Footnote 171: The schism of the Persians is explained by all our
travellers of the last century, especially in the iid and ivth volumes
of their master, Chardin. Niebuhr, though of inferior merit, has the
advantage of writing so late as the year 1764, (Voyages en Arabie, &c.,
tom. ii. p. 208-233,) since the ineffectual attempt of Nadir Shah to
change the religion of the nation, (see his Persian History translated
into French by Sir William Jones, tom. ii. p. 5, 6, 47, 48, 144-155.)]

[Footnote 172: Omar is the name of the devil; his murderer is a saint.
When the Persians shoot with the bow, they frequently cry, "May this
arrow go to the heart of Omar!" (Voyages de Chardin, tom. ii. p 239,
240, 259, &c.)]

[Footnote 173: This gradation of merit is distinctly marked in a creed
illustrated by Reland, (de Relig. Mohamm. l. i. p. 37;) and a Sonnite
argument inserted by Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, tom. ii. p. 230.)
The practice of cursing the memory of Ali was abolished, after forty
years, by the Ommiades t