. Omar himself was
an early convert of A.D. 615, and a sudden conversion like our Paul;
but one made his converts by fanaticism and the sword, the other by
preaching and the pen. After a glorious and victorious reign of ten
years Omar was assassinated by a Persian slave in November, A.D. 644,
and was followed as Khalif by Othman, son of Affan, of the noble
family of Abd-esh-Shems, who also assumed the title 'Amir al-Momenin,
or Commander of the Faithful, which had been first adopted by his
predecessor Omar. Othman ruled for twelve years, when he was murdered
in A.D. 656, some say at the instigation of Ali, nephew of Muhammad,
and husband of his only daughter Fatima. Anyhow, Ali succeeded Othman
as Khalif, but was defeated by Moawia, Governor of Syria, and
assassinated in A.D. 660.

Moawia bin Abu Sofyan then established the Benou Umayya dynasty,
called by Europeans the Omaiyides, or Ommiades, from the name of
Umayya, the father of the race. This dynasty reigned for nearly ninety
years, and numbered fourteen successive princes, with their capital at
Damascus.

During the reign of Yazid I., the second prince (A.D. 679-683),
Hussain, the younger son of Ali the Khalif, came to an untimely end.
His elder brother, Hasan, a man of quiet disposition, had been
previously murdered by one of his wives, at the instigation, it is
said, of Yazid before he came to the throne. This happened in A.D.
669. Later on Hussain, with his followers, rose in rebellion, and was
killed on the plain of Kerbela, A.D. 680. The descendants, however, of
this faction continued the disturbances which eventually brought about
the great Muhammadan schism, and the splitting up of the religion into
two sects, known to this day as the Sunnis and Shias. The adherents of
the legitimate Khalifate, and of the orthodox doctrine, assumed the
name of Sunnites, or Traditionists. These acknowledge the first four
Khalifs (the rightly minded, or rightly directed, as they are called)
to have been legitimate successors of Muhammad, while the sectaries of
Ali are known as the Shiites, or Separatists. These last regard Ali as
the first rightful Imam, for they prefer this title (found in Sura
ii., verse 118, of the Koran) to that of Khalif. The Turks and Arabs
are Sunnis: the Persians, and most of the Muhammadans of India, Shias.

This division into two sects, who hate each other cordially, has done
more to weaken the power of the Muhammadan religion as a power than
anyt