Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/312

 658–60] to show his contempt for the power of ʿAlī, made an incursion right across Mesopotamia, and for some days remained encamped on the banks of the Tigris. After leisurely inspecting Al-Mauṣil, which he had never seen before, he made his way back to Damascus unmolested.

The 40th year of the Hijra opened with a new grief for ʿAlī. When the time of pilgrimage came round, Muʿāwiya sent Busr, a brave but cruel captain of his host, with 3000 men into Arabia, to secure for him the allegiance of the Holy Places. As he drew nigh to Medīna, the governor fled and Busr entered unopposed. Proceeding to the Mosque, he mounted the sacred steps of the Prophet's pulpit, and recalling ʿOthmān to mind, addressed the people thus: "O citizens of Medīna! The aged man! Where is the grey-haired aged man whom, but as yesterday, and on this very spot, I swore allegiance to? Verily, but for my promise to Muʿāwiya, who bade me stay the sword, I had not left here a single soul alive!" Then he threatened the leading citizens with death if they refused to acknowledge Muʿāwiya as their Caliph; and so, fearing for their lives, all took the oath of allegiance to the Umeiyad ruler. Passing on to Mecca, the same scene was enacted by the imperious envoy there, and with the same result. Then marching south to the Yemen, he committed great atrocities there upon the adherents of ʿAlī. The governor, a son of Al-ʿAbbās, escaped to his cousin ʿAlī at Al-Kūfa. But two of his little children, falling into the tyrant’s hands, were put to death in cold blood, with their Bedawi attendant, who in vain protested against the cruel act. An army of 4000 men was despatched in haste from Al-Kūfa, but too late to stop these outrages; and Busr made good his escape to Syria. The wretched Peninsula fared no better at the hands of the relieving army. Many of the inhabitants of Nejrān were put to death because they had belonged to ʿOthmān's party. The men of Mecca were forced to recall the oath they had just taken, and again do homage to ʿAlī. Similarly, the citizens of Medīna swore allegiance to Al-Ḥasan, son of ʿAlī, at the point of the sword; but no sooner were the troops gone, than the leader of the