Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/300

658] ʿAmr, and was roughly handling him, when the people interposed to set him free. ʿAmr returned forthwith to Damascus, where by acclamation Muʿāwiya was saluted Caliph, though he did not assume the title until some years later.

How the startling intelligence affected ʿAlī, may be judged by the fact that to the prescribed daily service he now added a petition cursing by name Muʿāwiya, ʿAmr, and their chief adherents. Muʿāwiya was nothing loth to follow his example. And so the world was edified by the spectacle of the two rival commanders of the Faithful uttering commination one against the other in the public prayers.