Ali

Ali (Arab. The sublime), the cousin of Mahomet, who gave him his daughter Fatima in marriage On the death of the prophet, Abu-Bekr, Omar, and Othmar all claimed and obtained precedence, and Ali founded the sect of Shiahs as opposed to the Sunnites, the stricter followers of Mahomet. In 656 A.D. he was proclaimed Caliph in spite of the opposition of the Ommiades, who supported Amru. He was murdered by a Karigite fanatic at Kufa in 661, and the Shiahs yearly commemorate his death, to the wrath of the Sunnites. His descendants under the name of Fatimites established themselves as rulers of Egypt and N. Africa at the end of the twelfth century.