Studies in a Mosque - The Search For Mecca

214 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE.
claimants, there was no doctrine of heredity established
at the time of 'Aly. The election to the office of
Khalif, or chief of the religion and the state, was
vested in the whole body of the Faithful, and with
certain restrictions was open to any candidate who
might offer himself. The prime qualification was not
near kinship to the Prophet, but the capacity to rule
—the strong will, the wakeful energy, the prudence,
the diplomatic skill, which could alone maintain order
in the mixed and rebellious empire which Mohammad
had united by his supreme influence, but which was
now threatening to break up into its original divisions.
The bold resolute 'Omar was undoubtedly the fitter
man for this difficult position than the more shrinking
and scrupulous 'Aly, and Mohammad's old friend
Abu-Bekr had also, by his age and the respect in
which he was held of all men, as well as by his wise,
conciliating spirit, a valid title to the supreme voice.
The people did well to prefer these men to 'Aly, who
assuredly was not made of the stuff whereof conquer-
ing kings are fashioned. But when these were gone,
and the feeble 'Othman, the tool of the enemies of
'Aly, had met his death, there was no one so highly
esteemed among the original supporters of Mohammad
as his adopted son, and we may be sure that the
fact of his being the husband of the Prophet's
daughter Fatima, and the father of Hasan and Hoseyn,
the favourites of their late grandfather, and now
his sole male representatives, did not tell against
'Aly : and in 655 he became the fourth Khalif of Islam.
'Aly's reign was brief and troubled. He could not