that he set out one day to murder the prophet. Chancing, however, by the way to take up a copy of the Koran, and to read the 20th chapter, he was converted on the spot, and became from that hour the most zealous of the Moslems. His military talents and intrepid valour were forthwith devoted to the service of the founder of his religion. Among many other instances of fidelity that he gave was the promptness with which on one occasion he struck off the head of a plaintiff who had dared to question the justice of one of the prophet's judicial decisions. In fact, a spirit kindred to that which influenced his master seemed to influence him. "If God should wish," said Mohammed, "to send a second messenger to this world, his choice would undoubtedly fall on Omar." The self-sacrificing zeal of Omar came out into greater prominence at the death of the prophet in 632. When he saw the Mussulmans about to come to a schism touching the respective claims of himself and Abu Bekr to the caliphate, he put an end to the dangerous dispute by declaring for his rival. He then submissively undertook, and faithfully discharged, the duties of chamberlain to the khalif. Even when in the following year he was appointed successor to the khalifate by the death-stricken Abu Bekr, it was with reluctance that he accepted the appointment. "I have no occasion for the place," he said. "But the place has occasion for you," replied the dying khalif. In the position of "Emperor of the Faithful" the kindly spirit of Omar found its proper sphere. In no long time he communicated his prompt vigour and high-toned fanaticism to the whole military administration. Devoted lieutenants were placed in command of the several armies; the soldiers were disciplined by severe abstinence, and animated by hopes of a voluptuous paradise; and the Saracen conquests extended themselves with a rapidity greater even than in the days of the prophet himself. In 637 Saad Ibn Abi Wakkas took Ma'dain, the capital of Yezdejerd, King of Persia; in the following year Abu Obeydah Ibn Jerrah and Khaled Ibn Walid completed the reduction of Syria; in 640 Amru Ibn-al-Ass had subjugated Egypt; and in 641 Mugheyrah subdued Armenia. A similar prosperity meanwhile pervaded the civil administration. The khalif was ruling in Medina with a wise and self-denying beneficence that rendered him in reality the father of his people. The poorest subjects ever found him an impartial judge between them and their high-born oppressors. It was his custom every Friday night to expend all the contents of the treasury upon public and charitable purposes. A part of the money was given as regular pay to the soldiers, another part constituted pensions for meritorious officers, and the rest was distributed among his dependants, according to their necessities. He reserved nothing to support his own state, but he lived in primitive simplicity on a small pittance which he earned by manufacturing leather belts. His food was barley bread, his drink water, and his garb an old gown torn in twelve places. Unarmed and ungirdled, he mingled with his people, took his daily walks out into the country, and enjoyed his noontide repose under a wayside tree, or on the steps of the great mosque, among the beggars. At the same time, he was exhibiting in his life a model of Mohammedan piety. Much of his time was occupied in praying and preaching at the tomb of the prophet; occasional pilgrimages were made to Mecca; and the words of the Koran and the precepts of wisdom were ever upon his lips. Such a severely pure and sublimely simple morality could not fail to awaken in some minds an overpowering reverence and awe. Accordingly, it was said that the staff of Omar was more dreaded than the sword of his successors. In other minds it could not fail to excite hatred and revenge. Accordingly, an arrogant Persian slave, who had applied in vain to the khalif to be relieved of half the tribute paid to his master, swore to be avenged on the inexorable judge. Attacking him while saying the morning prayers in the mosque, he inflicted upon him three mortal wounds. After languishing for some days, Omar died in 643. It was in the reign of Omar that the famous Alexandrian library was burnt, and that several of the Mohammedan institutions began to be formed. (See Ockley's Saracens; Gibbon's History; Planck's Dissertatio de Omario Chalifa, Land. 1806; and Von Platen's Geschichte der Tödtung des Chalifen Omar, Berl. 1837.)

Omar II., the eighth khalif of the dynasty of the Ommiades, was the great grandson of Omar I., and succeeded Soliman in 717. In the midst of a luxurious and contentious people, he imitated the temperance and charity of his great ancestor. The chief purpose of his reign was to reconcile the followers of Omar and Ali, the two sects into which the Mussulmans were then divided, and to restore the latter to their property and privileges. Yet it was this generosity that led to his ruin. The Ommiades, dreading the fall of their faction, put him to death by poison in 720.