This indicated their ferocity. Nothing could successfully resist them in their ravening upon the prey. The Star styled his first vizier, Ali, the Lion of God. “Who,” says Mohammed, “will be my Vizier and Lieutenant?” “O prophet,” replied Ali, “I am the man. Whoever rises against thee, I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly. O prophet, I will be thy Vizier.” “These words,” says Hallam, “are, as it were, a text upon which the commentary expands into the whole Saracenic history.” The spirit of Ali was the spirit of the lion, and became the spirit of the hosts he led to battle, who were equally entitled with him to the appellation of the lions of God.
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