The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

CHAPTER XXXVI
'AlJ TRANSFKRS IIIS SEAT OF GOVERNMENT TO AL-KUFA.
AFFAIRS IN EGVPT
36 A.H. 656-657 A.D.
As 'All rode forth from Medina in pursuit of the insurgent Medina
army, a citizen seized his bridle ;
" Stay !
" he cried earnestk' :
'
-'
f
— " if thou goest forth from hence, the government will Islam,
depart from this City never more to return." He was
pushed aside, as one having lost his wits ; but his words
were long remembered, and the prophecy was true. Medina
was to be the seat of Empire no more.
^^^"^9"^'^
•' ' as capital of
In the 36th year of the Hijra, seven months after the 'All's entry
death of 'Othman, 'All entered Al-Kufa. The first four of tji'^je'^i;.
these had been spent at Medina; the other three in the Jan., 657
campaign of " the Camel " and a short stay at Al-Basra.
No Caliph had as yet visited Al-Kufa. It was now to be
the seat of 'All's government. The inhabitants were flattered
by the honour thus put upon them. The city had certain
advantages ; for in it were many leading men, able, and
some of them willing, to support the Caliph. Moreover,
'All might calculate on the jealousy of Al-'Irak towards
Syria in the approaching struggle with Mu'awiya. But these
advantages were all more than counterbalanced by the
factious humour of the populace. It was the focus of Bedawi
democracy; and the spirit of the Bedawin was yet untamed.
What had they gained, the men of Al-Kufa asked, by the
insurrection against 'Othman ? The cry of vengeance on
the regicides was for the moment silenced ; but things, they
said, were drifting back into the old Koreishite groove. The
charge was, in fact, the same as the Sons of the Desert
were making all round, " 'All hath set up his cousins,
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