In the temple of Mecca, three Charegites or enthusiasts discoursed of the disorders of the church and state: they soon agreed, that the deaths of Ali, of Moawiyah, and of his friend Amrou, the viceroy of Egypt, would restore the peace and unity of religion.

Each of the assassins chose his victim, poisoned his dagger, devoted his life, and secretly repaired to the scene of action.

Their resolution was equally desperate: but the first mistook the person of Amrou, and stabbed the deputy who occupied his seat; the prince of Damascus was dangerously hurt by the second; the lawful caliph, in the mosch of Cufa, received a mortal wound from the hand of the third.

He expired in the sixty-third year of his age, and mercifully recommended to his children, that they would despatch the murderer by a single stroke.

[1742] The sepulchre of Ali [175] was concealed from the tyrants of the house of Ommiyah; [176] but in the fourth age of the Hegira, a tomb, a temple, a city, arose near the ruins of Cufa.