Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/319



they had committed ʿAlī, we know not where, to his last home, Al-Kūfa did homage, as it were by common consent, to Al-Ḥasan, his eldest son. But Al-Ḥasan was a poor-spirited creature, more intent on varying the charms of his ever-changing ḥarīm than on the business of public life, and altogether unworthy his descent as grandson of the Prophet.

It was now Muʿāwiya's opportunity for asserting his title to the whole Muslim Empire. Already he was recognised as Caliph throughout Syria and Egypt. Al-Ḥasan had at command the army of 40,000 prepared by his father, but he had no stomach for the war. Sending forward his vanguard of 12,000 men, under the brave and faithful Ḳeis, to meet the enemy, he himself followed irresolutely; and, with the bulk of his army, rested at Al-Medāin amidst the luxurious gardens of the old Persian court. While thus ignobly holding back, the report gained currency at Al-Medāin that Ḳeis had been defeated and slain. An émeute ensued. The troops rose mutinously upon the Caliph. They rushed into his sumptuous pavilion, and plundered the royal tents even to the carpets. A project was set on foot to seize his person, and, by delivering him up to Muʿāwiya, thus make favourable terms. The faint-hearted Caliph, alarmed at the outbreak, took refuge in the Palace of the Chosroes, a more congenial residence than the martial camp; and, trusting no longer to his fickle and disloyal people, sent letters of submission to Muʿāwiya. He agreed to abdicate and retire to Medīna, 290