rs to refuse the payment of the
poor-rate. Ali was obliged to subdue him, a task which he effected not
without difficulty. Not a few of his former partisans went over to
Moawiya, as already had happened before the days of Siffin, amongst
others Ali's own brother 'Aqil. Lastly, there were in Kufa, and still
more in Basra, many Othmaniya or legitimists, on whose co-operation he
could not rely. Moawiya from his side made incessant raids into Ali's
dominion, and by his agents caused a very serious revolt in Basra. The
statement that a treaty was concluded between Moawiya and Ali to
maintain the _status quo_, in the beginning of the year 40 (A.D. 660),
is not very probable, for it is pretty certain that just then Ali had
raised an army of 40,000 men against the Syrians, and also that in the
second or third month of that year Moawiya was proclaimed caliph at
Jerusalem. At the same time Bosr b. Abi Artat made his expedition
against Medina and Mecca, whose inhabitants were compelled to
acknowledge the caliphate of Moawiya. On the murder of Ali in 661, his
son Hasan was chosen caliph, but he recoiled before the prospect of a
war with Moawiya, having neither the ambition nor the energy of Ali.
Moawiya stood then with a large army in Maskin, a rich district lying to
the north of the later West Bagdad, watered by the Dojail, or Little
Tigris, a channel from the Euphrates to the Tigris. The army of Trak was
near Madain, the ancient Ctesiphon. The reports about what occurred are
confused and contradictory; but it seems probable that Abdallah b.
Abbas, the vicegerent of Ali at Basra and ancestor of the future Abbasid
dynasty, was in command. No battle was fought. Hasan and Ibn Abbas
opened, each for himself, negotiations with Moawiya. The latter made it
a condition of surrender that he should have the free disposal of the
funds in the treasury of Basra. Some say that he had already before the
death of Ali rendered himself master of it. Notwithstanding the protest
of the Basrians, he transported this booty safely to Mecca. When his
descendants had ascended the throne and he had become a demi-saint, the
historians did their best to excuse his conduct. Hasan demanded, in
exchange for the power which he resigned, the contents of the treasury
at Kufa, which amounted to five millions of dirhems, together with the
revenues of the Persian province of Darabjird (Darab). When these
negotiations became known, a mutiny broke out in Hasan's camp. Ha