ent of
the rival claims. By a trick 'Ali was deposed (658), and the Omayyad
dynasty was established with its capital at Damascus.

Institution of navy.

During these early years the Arabs had not only made conquests by land,
but had found an outlet for their energy at sea. In 640 Omar sent a
fleet of boats across the Red Sea to protect the Moslems on the
Abyssinian coast. The boats were wrecked. Omar was so terrified by this
that when Moawiya applied to him for permission to use ships for an
attack on the islands of the Levant, he resolutely refused. Othman was
less careful, and allowed a fleet from Africa to help in the conquests
of the Levant and Asia Minor. In 649 he sanctioned the establishment of
a maritime service, on condition that it should be voluntary. Abu Qais,
appointed admiral, showed its usefulness by the capture of Cyprus. In
652 Abu Sarh with a fleet from Egypt won a naval battle over the
Byzantine fleet near Alexandria.

2. _Internal Affairs._--In the meantime what had become of Arabia and
its unification? The first task of Abu Bekr had been to reduce those
rebels who threatened to destroy that unity even before it was fully
established. This he did by the aid of the great general Khalid. First
he swept down on the Bani Hanifa in Yemama, who with their rival prophet
Mosailama (Mosailima) and 40,000 men were in arms. The battle of Yemama
(633) was fierce and decisive. Mosailama was slain. The Bani Hanifa
returned to Islam. Bahrein was influenced by this battle, and the
rebellion there, which was threatening, was crushed. Oman was
reconquered by Huddhaifa, who became its governor. Ikrima settled Mahra.
Muhajir, with the help of Ikrima, succeeded with difficulty, but
thoroughly, in defeating Amr ibn Ma'dikarib and Qais ibn 'Abd Yaghuth in
Yemen and Ashath ibn Qais in Hadramut. The Hejaz and Tehama were cleared
of the plundering nomads by 'Attab and Tahir. At the end of the first
year of his caliphate Abu Bekr saw Arabia united under Islam. The new
national feeling demanded that all Arabs should be free men, so the
caliph ordained that all Arab slaves should be freed on easy terms. The
solidarity of Arabia survived the first foreign conquests. It was not
intended that Arabs should settle in the conquered lands except as
armies of occupation. Thus it was at first forbidden that Arabs should
buy or possess land in these countries. Kufa was to be only a military
camp, as was Fostat in Egypt. The taxes w