The murder of Omar was followed by the murder of Othman. The next caliph, Ali, was unable to master the large realm that he had inherited and was swiftly murdered also.
Caliphate of Ali ibn Abi Talib (35-40 / 656-661)
1. After Othman there was made caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib b. Abd al-Muttalib b. Hashim b. Abd Manaf – his mother was Fatimah, daughter of Asad ibn Hashim b. Abd Manaf – in the month of Dhu’l-hiğğa in the thirty-fourth year of the Hegira, in the fourth year of the reign of Constantine, the son of Constantine. He then went to Basra and the battle of the Camel took place. Then he went to Kufa, aimed at Syria and the battle of Siffin took place there. He returned and there took place the battle of al-Khazrawiyyah, in Nahrawan. He returned to Kufa, where he was killed by Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Mulğam al-Muzadi, ten days before the end of the month of Ramadan of the fortieth year of the Hegira. He was killed at the age of sixty-three years. The funeral prayer was held by his son al-Hasan. His caliphate lasted four years and ten months. He was of a dark complexion, with a big belly and he had a bushy beard that touched his chest. Gray hairs had in no way altered his features. He was buried in al-Ghariyyān, others say in an-Nawbah: it is in fact uncertain where he was buried. The head of his bodyguard was Ma’qil Qaysi ibn az-Zibāgi, and his ‘hāgib’ was the freedman Qanbar.
see also Suyuti’s Tarikh on the caliphs. Paraphrasing Major S.H. Jarret –
“[Ali] had a large belly, and a large beard that filled the whole expanse between his shoulders. His beard was white as cotton and he was a very dark-skinned man”. The last is shadid al-udma, elsewhere used for Bilal.
On al-Nawba, Pococke’s text had pointed it Thawiya, so that’s how the Latin reads. I’m not taking sides.