Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/351

 322 and gathering there "in a throng thicker than the throng that gathers around the Kaʿba," raised a bitter cry, and spent the night in a loud wail of self-reproach for having deserted in his extremity the son of Fāṭima and ʿAlī. Then they set out to attack the godless Syrians. Met near Ḳirḳīsiyā by the Caliph’s troops, they fought with desperate bravery, but were utterly defeated, their leaders slain, and the remnant driven back to Al-Kūfa.

Al-Mukhtār from his prison sent to the defeated "Penitents" a fulsome panegyric with hopes of future victory. Having obtained his liberty, he set up as the professed delegate of Moḥammad, Ibn al-Ḥanefīya, to execute vengeance on the enemies of his father's house. By dint of specious assertions, forged letters, and a certain countenance from Moḥammad himself, then at Medīna, he gained over Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashtar and other influential men of Al-Kūfa. By their aid he expelled the governor of Ibn az-Zubeir, gained possession of the city, and succeeded in extending his sway over Al-ʿIrāḳ, and even parts of Persia and Arabia.

His first great effort was directed against his old enemy ʿObeidallah, who during the past year had been endeavouring to reduce the power of Ibn az-Zubeir in Mesopotamia, and now threatened Mosul. For this end Al-Mukhtār despatched Ibn al-Ashtar with an army; but no sooner had it left Al-Kūfa, than the citizens, many of whom had no sympathy with the ʿAlid movement, and were indeed themselves amongst the "murderers" of Al-Ḥosein, rose in rebellion against Al-Mukhtār. He hastily recalled Ibn al-Ashtar for his defence. A terrible conflict ensued in the streets of Al-Kūfa, tribe against tribe, the Yemen against Ḳeis, faction against faction, till the cry on one side "Down with the murderers of Al-Ḥosein!" on the other "Down with the murderers of ʿOthmān!" resounded throughout the city. At last, after some 800 had been slain, Al-Mukhtār's party