Note 523 — Chapter XXXVIII · ALY TRANSFERS HIS SEAT OF GOVERNMENT TO KUFA. AFFAIRS IN EGYPT. A.H. XXXVI. A.D. 656, 657.

I give the narrative as related by concurrent tradition, which I can only question when there is strong internal probability against it. It would, no doubt, have been satisfactory to have had some evidence of Muâvia’s deceptive course of action. It may, however, all be true, for Muâvia was never overscrupulous. But we have no proof excepting fama clamans; and court influence under the Abbassides disposed the historians of the day to make the most of every report that was damaging to the character of the Omeyyad dynasty. The reader must, therefore, be cautious of accepting implicitly all these imputations of underhand machination.