numberless acts of kindness are recorded, such as relieving the wants of the widow and the fatherless.[431] [Sidenote: The first called Commander of the Faithful.] Omar was the first who assumed the title Ameer al Momenîn, or ‘Commander of the Faithful.’ _Caliph_ (Successor) _of the Prophet of the Lord_, was, he said, ‘too long and cumbersome a name, while the other was easier and more fit for common use.’ [Sidenote: Burial of Omar.] According to his desire, Omar was buried side by side with the Prophet and Abu Bekr, in the chamber of Ayesha. Soheib, as presiding over the public prayers, performed the funeral service, and the five Electors, with Abdallah, the Caliph’s son, lowered the body into its last resting-place. [Sidenote: Faction and schism in prospect.] The Moslem annalist may well sigh as he bids farewell to the strong and single-minded Caliph; and enters on the troubled sea of self-seeking faction, strife, and schism, which opens with the Caliphate of his successor. CHAPTER XXIX. ELECTION OF OTHMAN. DZUL HIJJ, A.H. XXIII.--MOHARRAM, A.H. XXIX. NOVEMBER, A.D. 644. [Sidenote: The Electors.] What arrangement Omar might have made for a successor, had his end come less suddenly upon him, it is perhaps unnecessary to inquire. But some more definite choice he would, in all probability, have signified. We know that the perils of disunion hung heavily on his mind. The unbridled arrogance of the numerous powerful tribes settled in Kûfa and Bussorah, flushed with the glory and the spoils of war, was already felt a danger; while family rivalries amongst the Coreish themselves were beginning to weaken their hold over the people which had hitherto been absolute. So much is plain, that (Abd al Rahmân perhaps excepted) Omar saw none amongst them endowed with sufficient power and influence, after his death, to hold the reins of government. There was none, at least, so prominent as to take the acknowledged lead. Again, the mode of nomination or election proper to Islam, was as yet all uncertain. Abu Bekr had on his death-bed named Omar his successor; but the higher precedent of Mahomet, who appointed no one to take his place, but simply named Abu Bekr, when he fell sick, to lead the prayers, was doubtful. Had Abu Obeida been yet alive, Omar declared that he would have chosen him; and the succession now offered to Abd al Rahmân was (as we have seen) declined. Weak and faint from the assassin’s dagger, the emergency came upon the dying Caliph altogether unprepared to meet it. So, relieving himself of the responsibility, he fell upon the expedient of nominating the six chiefest Companions, on one or other of whom he knew that the choice must needs fall, to be the Electors of a successor from amongst themselves. These were Abd al Rahmân, Othmân, Aly, Sád, Zobeir, and Talha. A seventh was added in the person of his