Mohammed had extolled it as the grandest of all compositions, and had adduced its unapproachable excellence as a proof of his divine mission.

But, in little more than twenty years after his death, the experience that had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Egypt, had produced a striking effect, and Ali the khalif reigning at that time, avowedly encouraged all kinds of literary pursuits.

Moawyah, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, who followed in 661, revolutionized the government.

It had been elective, he made it hereditary.

He removed its seat from Medina to a more central position at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury and magnificence.