a message to his rival to request free access to the
river, declaring that under the same circumstances he would not allow
any of the faithful, though his adversaries, to perish from thirst.
After some debate, Moawiyah determined to avail himself of the advantage
of his situation, and to reject the demand of Ali. The soldiers of Ali
became desperate; forced their way through that part of the hostile army
which commanded the river, and in their turn entirely cut off the
troops of Moawiyah from the water. Moawiyah was reduced to make the same
supplication to Ali. The generous caliph instantly complied; and both
armies, with their cattle enjoyed free and unmolested access to the
river. Price, vol. i. p. 268, 272--M.]

[Footnote 1742: His son Hassan was recognized as caliph in Arabia and
Irak; but voluntarily abdicated the throne, after six or seven months,
in favor of Moawiyah St. Martin, vol. xi. p 375.--M.]

[Footnote 175: Abulfeda, a moderate Sonnite, relates the different
opinions concerning the burial of Ali, but adopts the sepulchre of Cufa,
hodie fama numeroque religiose frequentantium celebratum. This number is
reckoned by Niebuhr to amount annually to 2000 of the dead, and 5000 of
the living, (tom. ii. p. 208, 209.)]

[Footnote 176: All the tyrants of Persia, from Adhad el Dowlat (A.D.
977, D'Herbelot, p. 58, 59, 95) to Nadir Shah, (A.D. 1743, Hist. de
Nadir Shah, tom. ii. p. 155,) have enriched the tomb of Ali with the
spoils of the people. The dome is copper, with a bright and massy
gilding, which glitters to the sun at the distance of many a mile.]

[Footnote 177: The city of Meshed Ali, five or six miles from the ruins
of Cufa, and one hundred and twenty to the south of Bagdad, is of the
size and form of the modern Jerusalem. Meshed Hosein, larger and more
populous, is at the distance of thirty miles.]

The persecutors of Mahomet usurped the inheritance of his children; and
the champions of idolatry became the supreme heads of his religion and
empire. The opposition of Abu Sophian had been fierce and obstinate;
his conversion was tardy and reluctant; his new faith was fortified by
necessity and interest; he served, he fought, perhaps he believed; and
the sins of the time of ignorance were expiated by the recent merits
of the family of Ommiyah. Moawiyah, the son of Abu Sophian, and of the
cruel Henda, was dignified, in his early youth, with the office or title
of secretary of the prophet: the judgment of Om