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THE OMAYYADS: CONQUEST OF AFRICA AND SPAIN. Othman was assassinated by three fanatics, and Ali was then raised to the caliphate; but Muawiyah, representing the family of the Omayyads, made himself the head of an opposing party, and, after the assassination of Ali, became sole caliph . He removed the seat of the caliphate to Damascus.
But the energetic defense, which was aided by the use of "the Greek fire," an artificial compound which exploded and burned with an unquenchable flame, caused the grand expedition to fail; and the Eastern Empire had another long lease of life. The successors of Muawiyah accomplished the subjugation of Africa.
The tribe of Fehr hold a conspicuous place in the Spanish annals, and one of them was the leader of the last attempt to shake off the yoke of Castile, after the capture of Granada. Among the few survivors of the general doom, was a youth named Abdurrahman Ibn Muawiyah, a grandson of the Khalif Hisham.
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