hing else. The Shias to this day execrate the memory of Yazid as
the murderer of their hero Hussain, whom they have ever regarded as a
martyr, and given full vent to their feelings on the subject in their
'Passion Play,' translated by Sir Lewis Pelly, and described by Mr.
Benjamin in his 'Persia and the Persians.'

Other insurrections against the reigning Omaiyide Khalifs were also
put down, portions of Asia, Africa and Spain conquered, and even
France invaded, so that at the close of the Benou Umayya dynastry,
about A.D. 750, their empire consisted of many and large territories
in Europe, Africa and Asia. Their colour was white, as opposed to the
black of the Abbasides, and the green of the Fatimites, as descendants
of Muhammad.

But the Benou Umayya dynasty succumbed, A.D. 749, under the blows of
Ibrahim (great-grandson of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet), and of
his younger brother, Abul Abbas, better known in history as As-Saffah,
or the Blood-shedder. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of the
river Zab, near Arbela, and Marwan II. (A.D. 744-750), the last of the
Omaiyide Khalifs, was defeated, and fled first to Damascus, and then
to Egypt, where he was eventually killed by his pursuers, A.D. 750.

The history of the reign of the Abbasides now begins, and under them
the power and glory of Islam reached their highest point. But it is
first necessary to allude to the conquest of Spain by the Omaiyides, a
branch of which family still retained for a long time in the West the
power which they had totally lost in the East.

The most important achievement of the reign of Walid I. (A.D.
705-715), the sixth prince of the Omaiyide dynasty, was the conquest
of Spain by his generals Tarik and Musa. The Arabs (known in Europe
under the name of Saracens) first established themselves in Cordova
about A.D. 711, and the two generals above named continued their
victorious progress throughout the country in 712 and 713, until
nearly nine-tenths of the peninsula was held by the Muhammadans.

Some years later France even was invaded by the Arabs, and the banners
of the Muslims were erected on the coasts of the Gulf of Lyons, on the
walls of Narbonne, of Nimes, of Carcassonne, and of Beziers. The Arabs
afterwards advanced as far as the plains of Tours, where their
victorious progress was checked by Charles Martel, who gained a great
victory over them near that town in October, A.D. 732, and completely
defeated them, so that t