ors were not always paid, and that the warriors of
the land were much distressed for want of work owing to the brotherhood
of Arabs proclaimed by Mahomet. The tribes were a seething mass of
restlessness, their old feuds ready to break out again. But they had
realized that they had common interests. The power of the foreigner in
Arabia was broken. Islam promised rich booty for those who fought and
won, paradise for those who fell.

_Early Caliphs_.[1] 1. _Conquest._--One task of the early caliphs was to
find an outlet for the restless fighting spirit. Abu Bekr (632-634), the
first of these caliphs, was a man of simple life and profound faith. He
understood the intention of Mahomet as to foreign nations, and set
himself resolutely to carry it out in the face of much difficulty. Hence
as soon as he assumed office he sent out the army already chosen to
advance against the Romans in the north. The successful reduction of the
rebels in Arabia enabled him in his first year to send his great general
Khalid with his Arab warriors first against Persians, then against
Romans. His early death prevented him from seeing the fruits of his
policy. Under the second caliph Omar (634-644) the Persians were
defeated at Kadesiya (Kadessia), and Irak was completely subdued and the
new cities of Kufa and Basra were founded (635). In the same year
Damascus fell into the hands of the Arabs under Abu 'Ubaida. In 636
Jerusalem fell and received a visit from the caliph. Three years later
the fateful step was taken of appointing Moawiya (Mu'awiyya) governor of
Syria. In 640 'Amr-ibn-el-Ass (Amr ibn al-'As) invaded Egypt and the
following year took Alexandria and founded Fostat (which later became
Cairo). The victory at Nehavend in 641 over the Persians, the flight of
the last Sassanid king and the capture of Rei or Rai (class. Rhagae) in
643 meant the entire subjugation of Persia and crowned the conquests of
Omar's caliphate. The reign of the third caliph Othman (644-656) was
marked by the beginning of that internal strife which was to ruin
Arabia; but the foreign conquests continued. In the north the Moslem
arms reached Armenia and Asia Minor; on the west they were successful as
far as Carthage on the north coast of Africa. After the murder of
Othman, 'Ali (656-661) became caliph, but Moawiya, governor of Syria,
soon rebelled on the pretext of avenging the death of Othman. After the
battle of Siffin (657) arbitration was resorted to for the settlem