[34] The sect of the Monophysites asserted one incarnate nature in Christ; the name of Jacobites, by which they are mostly known, is derived from Jacobus Baradæus, Bishop of Edessa, who revived the expiring faction of the Monophysites (about 530).
[35] Some historians dispose of Abdallah on this occasion by the scymitar of Beschr, and assign to the Abdallah who in 647 invaded North Africa, a different origin (some assert the latter to have been the son of the martyr Jaafar who fell in the battle of Muta).
[36] Mohammed’s vices were of a regal cast; avarice, the beggar’s vice, yet which so often sullies crowned heads, was not among his failings.
[37] One of the uncles of the prophet, whose vigorous arm and immensely powerful voice had done good service to the cause in the fight of Honain.
[38] Even this number reads very much like Oriental exaggeration, and may safely be reduced by the half.
[39] Some writers say 90,000, others, 110,000; others, 114,000; some raise the number even to 130, 140, or 150,000; but then due allowance must be made for Oriental exaggeration; I think the number given in the text may be considered to come tolerably near the mark.
[40] Ali was married to Fatima, the only one of Mohammed’s children who survived the prophet.
[41] Some historians give the 6th, others the 8th, and others the 17th of June, as the last day of Mohammed’s life.
[42] Rather a curious comment on the interdiction of wine in this world.