families. Abu Bekr followed the Prophet's
example. In the great revolt of the Arabic tribes after the death of
Mahomet, and in the invasion of Irak and Syria by the Moslems, the
principal generals belonged to them. Omar did not deviate from that line
of conduct. It was he who appointed Yazid, the son of Abu Sofian, and
after his death, his brother Moawiya as governor of Syria, and assigned
the province of Egypt to Amr-ibn-el-Ass ('Amr b. As). It is even
surprising to find among the leading men so few of the house of Hashim,
the nearest family of the Prophet. The puzzled Moslem doctors explain
this fact on the ground that the Hashimites were regarded as too noble
to hold ordinary administrative offices, and that they could not be
spared at Medina, where their counsel was required in all important
affairs. There is, however, a tradition in which Ali himself calls the
Omayyads born rulers. As long as Omar lived opposition was silent. But
Othman had not the strong personality of his predecessor, and, although
he practically adhered to the policy of Omar, he was accused of
favouring the members of his own family--the caliph belonged himself to
the house of Omayya--at the expense of the Hashimites and the Ansar. The
jealousy of the latter two was prompted by the fact that the
governorship and military commands had become not only much more
important, but also much more lucrative, while power and money again
procured many adherents. The truly devout Moslems on the other hand were
scandalized by the growing luxury which relaxed the austere morals of
the first Moslems, and this also was imputed to Othman.

We thus see how the power of the house of Omayya developed itself, and
how there arose against it an opposition, which led in the first place
to the murder of Othman and the Caliphate of Ali, and furthermore,
during the whole period of the Omayyad caliphs, repeatedly to dangerous
outbreaks, culminating in the great catastrophe which placed the
Abbasids on the throne. The elements of this opposition were of very
various kinds:--(1) The old-fashioned Moslems, sons of the _Ansar_ and
_Mohajir_, who had been Mahomet's first companions and supporters, and
could not bear the thought that the sons of the old enemies of the
Prophet in Mecca, whom they nicknamed _tolaqa_ (freedmen), should be in
control of the imamate, which carried with it the management of affairs
both civil and religious. This party was in the foreground, chiefly in