The ambitious candidate no longer aspired to the barren sceptre of Arabia; the Saracens had been victorious in the East and West; and the wealthy kingdoms of Persia, Syria, and Egypt were the patrimony of the commander of the faithful.
[Footnote 171: The schism of the Persians is explained by all our travellers of the last century, especially in the iid and ivth volumes of their master, Chardin.

Niebuhr, though of inferior merit, has the advantage of writing so late as the year 1764, (Voyages en Arabie, &c., tom.ii.p.

208-233,) since the ineffectual attempt of Nadir Shah to change the religion of the nation, (see his Persian History translated into French by Sir William Jones, tom.ii.p.5, 6, 47, 48, 144-155.)] [Footnote 172: Omar is the name of the devil; his murderer is a saint.
When the Persians shoot with the bow, they frequently cry, "May this arrow go to the heart of Omar!" (Voyages de Chardin, tom.ii.p 239, 240, 259, &c.)] [Footnote 173: This gradation of merit is distinctly marked in a creed illustrated by Reland, (de Relig.Mohamm.l.i.p.

37;) and a Sonnite argument inserted by Ockley, (Hist.

of the Saracens, tom.ii.p.