William Muir

“ His only resource was now to bid Mohammad hold on and do what he could to retrieve his position.1 But the faction which favoured Mu'awiya gained ground daily; and when 'Amr, taking advantage of the defection of 'Ali's troops, at the head of a few thousand men crossed the border, he was joined by an overwhelming body of insurgents. Mohammad, after a vain attempt to fight, was slain, and his body ignominiously burned in an ass's skin.2 Thus Egypt was lost to 'Ali ”