Chapter III: Part 3

In 288 the search seemed to be relaxed, and then Zaqruya sent his son Hasan to Syria with a companion named Hasan b. Ahmad, and told them to preach to the Arabs of the B. Kalb tribe, inviting them to recognise Muhammad b. Ismaʿil as the Imam. These two envoys obtained many followers. The envoy who had made plans with Zaqruya had meanwhile gone back to Talakan, and now, annoyed at Zaqruya’s silence, went to the Sawad and discovered his place of concealment. When Zaqruya told him of the success of his mission to the Arabs he was delighted and determined to join the envoys himself. Zaqruya approved this plan and sent with him his nephew Isa b. Mahwayh, surnamed Mudatthar, and another young man surnamed Mutawwak, at the same time writing a letter to his son bidding him render obedience to the leader of these new comers whom he termed _Sahib al-Nakat_. When they reached the B. Kalb they were welcomed and received with every profession of loyalty, and the tribe prepared for war. This took place in 289. The resulting conflict with the authorities was, however, unsuccessful: the sectaries were not able to repeat their brigandage which the weakness of the central authority had been unable to prevent about the Sawad, and the leader, the kinsman of the Mahdi at Salamiya, was killed, and the Arabs scattered.

Nuwayri says that this leader had struck money, both gold and silver, and that the coins were inscribed on one side: “Say, the truth has come and falsehood has disappeared” (Qur. 17, 83): and on the other: “There is no God but God; Say, ‘for this I ask no wage of you, save the love of my kindred’” (Qur. 42, 22).

After this leader’s death Hasan, son of Zaqruya, took command of the Qarmatians and assumed the name of Ahmad. The general Muhammad b. Sulayman had a great victory over him and, as he was unable to reconstruct his forces, he left for Baghdad where, he said, he had many followers, and put his son Kasam in charge as his deputy, promising to write to him. This was, however, only a pretext as he intended to seek safety in flight, but was caught by Mudatthar and Mutawwak and put to death.

This check caused the Arabs to keep quiet for some time. Then they received a letter from Zaqruya saying that he had heard of the death of Hasan and Isa by revelation, and that after their death the Imam was going to be revealed and would triumph with his followers. Kasam was now getting anxious, and thought it well to visit his grandfather Zaqruya in the Sawad; but Zaqruya disapproved the course of events and rebuked him severely, sending another disciple, an ex-schoolmaster named Muhammad b. Abdullah, to replace him. At first this new commander met with success, then came reverse and he was killed. At this news Zaqruya sent back Kasam to collect the remnants of the party which he did and brought them to ad-Derna, a village in the Sawad. Here they were joined by Zaqruya, who was hailed by the Arabs as their _wali_, and all the Qarmatians in the Sawad came out to join them. The rising in the Sawad was a mere _jacquerie_ of Nabataean peasants, and the Qarmatian movement proper never rose much above this level. At the head of his men Zaqruya attacked the caravan of pilgrims on their way to Mecca in 294, plundered it, and slew twenty thousand pilgrims. The Khalif then sent out forces to put down these troublesome brigands, the Qarmatians were severely punished, Zaqruya was taken prisoner and sent in chains to the Khalif, but died of his wounds on the way (Abu l-Feda: _Ann. Mosl._, ii. 299).

In 295 a man named Abu Khatam founded a new sect of Qarmatians in the Sawad, and these were known as the _Buraniyya_ after Burani, who was the most active _daʿi_ in organising them. Abu Khatam forbade his followers to use garlic, leeks, or radishes, and prohibited the shedding of any animal’s blood; he made them abandon all the religious observances of Islam, and instituted rites of an entirely new character. We shall find these prohibitions of particular vegetables in the ordinances of the Fatimid Khalif Hakim later on, but there justified by certain Shiʿite theories. At the end of the year Abu Khatam drops out of sight entirely. The movement is of interest only in showing the tendency of the Ismaʿilians to form new schisms.

Another off-shoot of the Qarmatians established itself in the Bahrayn, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. In 281 Yahya, a son of the Mahdi, whom de Sacy supposes to have been the same individual who advised Zaqruya and who was killed near Damascus in 289, the one of whom we have already heard as the Sahib an-Nakat, although no mention of his real name is given in any account of Zaqruya’s rising, came to al-Katif and lodged in the house of a Shiʿite called ʿAli b. Maʿli b. Hamdan. He told his host that he had been sent by the Mahdi to invite the Shiʿites to recognise him, the representative of Ismaʿil, as the Imam, and to announce that the public appearance of the “concealed one” was near at hand. ʿAli gathered together the Shiʿites of the locality, and showed them the letter which Yahya had given him to be read to them: they promised obedience and declared themselves ready to take up arms as soon as the Mahdi’s representative appeared amongst them. Very soon all the villagers of the Bahrayn were induced to join in these undertakings. Yahya then went away and returned with a letter, which he stated that he had obtained from the Mahdi authorising him to act as their leader, and calling on them to pay him six pieces of gold and two-thirds for each man. This they did, and then Yahya brought a new letter bidding them give him a fifth of all their goods, and this they did also.

Ibn al-Athir says that Yahya went to the house of Abu Saʿid al-Jannabi, one of these Shiʿites, and that his host gave him food, and then told his wife to go in to Yahya and not refuse him her favours. News of this, however, came to the governor of the town, and he had Yahya beaten and his hair and beard shorn off as a punishment for the scandal caused. After this Abu Saʿid fled to his native town of Jannaba, and Yahya went out to the Arab tribes of Kalab, Oqayl, and Haras, who rallied round him, so that he found himself at the head of a considerable force in 286. It will be noted that the desert tribes, even though the most purely Arab, were always ready to join revolutionary movements, anti-Arab as well as other; in fact they were simply marauders, and fell in with any plans which offered promise of a period of successful brigandage, irrespective of any political or religious movements involved.

Nuwayri supposes either that Abu Saʿid had previously learned Qarmatian ideas in the Sawad, or had been initiated by Hamdan and appointed _daʿi_ for the district of al-Katif. Most of his followers were drawn from the lowest classes, butchers, porters, and such like. The Sharif Abu l-Hasan says that Abu Saʿid regarded the _daʿi_ Zaqruya as a rival and felt a jealousy towards him, so that, having contrived to get Zaqruya into a house belonging to him, he starved him to death.

When he had gathered a considerable following Abu Saʿid established himself at the town of al-ʾAhsa, besieged Hajar, the capital of the Bahrayn, for a matter of two years, during which his followers were considerably increased, and finally captured the town by cutting off its water supply. Some of the inhabitants escaped to the islands in the river near by, others embraced Abu Saʿid’s doctrines, whilst others were put to death. The town was pillaged and ruined, and thus al-ʾAhsa afterwards replaced it as the capital of the Bahrayn. According to Ibn Khallikan Abu Saʿid first appeared as _kabir_ or “great man” of the Qarmatians in 286. In 287 they made an attempt on Basra, and though they defeated the forces sent by the Khalif to repel them, they were unable to take the city (Ibn Khall., i. 427).

Abu Saʿid then attempted to get possession of Oman, but was obliged to abandon this scheme. He was slain in 301 with several other Qarmatian leaders, and was succeeded by his son Abu l-Kasam Saʿid, who held the leadership until his second son Abu Tahar, who had been designated successor, was old enough to take up the task, which happened in 305. The Qarmatian risings which take a position of considerable prominence in later history all took place under the successors of Abu Saʿid, who may be regarded as the founder of the Qarmatians as a revolutionary force, although there had been an earlier beginning of the sect as an off-shoot of the Ismaʿilians under Hamdan and his missionaries.

According to Ibn Khallikan Abu Saʿid entered Syria in 289, and in 291 he was slain in his bath by one of his eunuchs. He left six sons. It was Abu Tahar who marched on Basra in 311, occupied it without serious resistance, and plundered the city. But to these doings of the Qarmatians we shall return later.

IV

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FATIMIDS IN NORTH AFRICA

The political career of the Fatimids centres in North Africa and Egypt, and commences with the activity of Ibn Hawshab, who himself never visited those parts. This man, whom Maqrizi calls Abu l-Kasam Hasan b. Farash b. Hawshab, and Abu l-Fera and Bibars Mansuri, referred to as Rustam b. Husayn b. Hawshab b. Zadam an-Najjar (“the carpenter”), was a follower of Ahmad whom we have seen as succeeding his father ʿAbdullah, and accompanied him on a pilgrimage to the sacred sites of the Shiʿites, the tombs of Hasan and Husayn and of several of the later Imams, all in the neighbourhood of Kufa and Samarra,—ʿAli’s own tomb is not known for certain, but is commonly believed to be at Najaf, near Kufa. Whilst there they noticed a wealthy Shiʿite of Yemen named Muhammad himself remarked by his tears and display of grief (Maqrizi i. 349). According to this Yemenite’s own account he had just read the Sura of “The Grotto” (Qur. 18), when he noticed an old man with a young companion close at hand. The old man sat down, his companion sat near, but kept on observing Muhammad, until at last he left the old man and drew near him. Muhammad asked him who he was; he gave his name as Husayn, and hearing this sacred name Muhammad could not restrain his tears. The old man observed this very attentively, and bids the young man ask him to join them. When Muhammad did so he asked who and what he was. The man replied that he was a Shiʿite, and gave his name as Hasan b. Faraj b. Hawshab. The old man said that he knew his father, and that he was a “Twelver.” Did the son hold the same views? Hasan replied that he always had held them, but that of late he had felt much discouragement (cf. extract in Quatremère, _Journal asiatique_, for Aug., 1836). From this a conversation commenced, and as a result Hasan was converted to acceptance of the Ismaʿilian creed. Further, Ahmad drew the conclusion that Yemen would offer a promising field for Shiʿite propaganda, and decided to send Ibn Hawshab to act as _daʿi_ in Yemen, and about A.H. 270 (= A.D. 883) he appears there as settled in the district of the B. Musa tribe at Sana (Maq. i. 349). At first he claimed to be simply a merchant, but his neighbours soon penetrated his disguise and urged him to act openly as a Shiʿite missionary who, they assured him, would be in every way welcome (Bibars Mansuri). Thus encouraged he declared himself a Shiʿite agent, and soon gathered a considerable band of followers drawn, not only from the immediate vicinity, but also from the Qarmatians of Mesopotamia. As soon as they were strong enough Ibn Hawshab’s companions took up arms and began raids upon neighbours who had not accepted the Shiʿite creed and met with much success in obtaining plunder.

From the earliest period of Muslim history North Africa has been the favourite field of exploitation of every sect and political party which found itself in opposition to the official Khalifate, and there has always been very close intercourse between that area and South Arabia; indeed, there are even common peculiarities of dialect between the two. Thus we find that as soon as the new Ismaʿilian sect was established in Yemen, Ibn Hawshab sent two missionaries, Hulwani and Abu Sufyan (Maq. ii. 10) to preach in the province of Ifrikiya, the modern Tripoli and Tunis, where their work seems to have lain particularly amongst the aboriginal Berber population, for the Berbers were always more disposed to any heresy or rebellion which would give them a good pretext for making war against the ruling Arabs. Nothing is known of the subsequent history of these two missionaries save that after a brief career during which they seem to have made a deep impression, especially on the Katama tribe, they died. This Katama tribe lived in the broken territory north-west of the town of Constantine, in what would now be north-east Algeria.

As we shall have to refer more than once to the geography of North Africa it will be convenient here to make a brief statement of its political divisions and condition in the fourth century A.H. By North Africa we understand the whole territory lying between the land of Egypt on the east and the Atlantic on the west, bounded by the Mediterranean on the north and by the great desert on the south. Previous to the Arab invasion this land was inhabited by the Berbers or Libyans, the same who, under the name of _Lebu_, had constantly threatened Egypt in the days of the Pharaohs. As a race these Berbers seem to have progressed little since neo-lithic times, and were still in the condition of nomadic tribes like the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period. Their language was not Semitic, but it has many very marked Semitic affinities and, although language transmission is often quite distinct from racial descent, it seems quite probable that in this case the race bore a parallel relation to the Arab stock. This would be best explained by the supposition that both were derived from a neo-lithic race, which at one time spread along the whole of the southern coast of the Mediterranean and across into Western Asia, but that some cause, perhaps the early development of civilization in the Nile valley, had cut off the eastern wing from the rest, and this segregated portion developed the distinctive characteristics which we term Semitic.

Along the coast there had been a series of colonies, Greek, Punic, Roman, and Visigothic, but these left no permanent mark on the Berber population, language, or culture. Although at the time of the Arab invasion the country was theoretically under the rule of Byzantium, and the invaders had to meet the resistance of a Greek army, the early defeat of the Greeks brought an immediate end to Greek influence in the country, and left the Arabs face to face with the Berber tribes.

The Arab invasion of North Africa followed immediately after the conquest of Egypt, but the internal disputes of the Muslim community prevented this invasion from resulting in a regular conquest, much less in settlement. It was not until the second invasion took place in A.H. 45 (= A.D. 665) that we can regard the Arabs as really beginning the conquest of the country and its settlement. For centuries afterwards the Arab hold was precarious in the extreme, and many Berber states were founded from time to time, some of which had an existence of several centuries. As a rule there was a pronounced racial antipathy between Arab and Berber, but this was mild compared with the tribal feuds between different Berber groups, and Arab rule was only possible by temporary alliance with one or other of the quarrelling factions. Strangely enough the religion of Islam spread rapidly amongst the Berbers, but it took a peculiar development which shows the survival of many pre-Islamic religious ideas and observances. The worship of saints and the reverence paid to their tombs is a corruption of Islam which appears in most lands, but in the West it takes an extreme form, although there are tribes which reject it altogether. Similar worship, often in a revolting form, is paid to living saints or _murabits_ (marabouts), who are allowed to indulge every passion, and to disregard the ordinary rules of morality: very often these reputed saints are no more than insane persons, for the Berbers, like many other primitive people, regard insanity as a form of divine inspiration. Such saints, even those living to-day, are credited with miraculous powers, and especially with the power of surpassing the limitations of time and place, and so to pass from one place to another in an instant of time, and to be in two places at once.

These ideas, of course, are no legitimate development of Islam, to which they are plainly repugnant, but represent the survival of older pagan beliefs which Islam has not been able to eradicate. At the same time, as we have noted, there are tribes which are completely free from these ideas, and there is, especially in the towns, an element which is strictly orthodox in its rejection of alien superstitions, and there have been many learned theologians and jurists of the Berber race, for the most part of a reactionary and conservative school of thought. The conquest of Spain was carried out by Muslims, amongst whom the Berbers were in the numerical majority, and the Berber element always predominated in Spain, where some of the most brilliant philosophy, literature, and art of the Islamic world was produced.

North Africa was always the home of the lost causes of Islam. Whenever the Khalifs of Baghdad tried to exterminate some obnoxious sect or dynasty, the last survivors took refuge in the remoter parts of the West, and there managed to hold their own, so that even now those parts show the strangest survivals of otherwise forgotten movements. But North Africa always gave its readiest welcome to those sects which show a strongly puritan character: though anyone in revolt against the Khalif or other recognized authority could count on a welcome in North Africa for that very fact.

In race, language, and religious ideas the Berbers of the North are one with the Berber tribes of the great desert which spreads to the watershed of the Benwe and connects, by regular trade routes following the ridges which traverse North Africa from north-west to south-east, with the Horn of Africa. But these desert dwellers of the south do not enter into the subject of our present enquiry.

The Arab conquerors settled along North Africa and down to the desert edge in sporadic groups, their tribes as a rule occupying the lower ground, whilst the older population maintained itself in the mountainous districts. But this does not mean that the Berbers were held at bay as a subject people: the Katama, for instance, possessed some of the best territory in North Africa, and were practically independent of the Khalif. During the invasion of 45 the city of Kairawan was founded some distance south of Tunis. The site was badly chosen, and it is now little more than a decayed village, but for some centuries it served as the political capital of _Ifrikiya_, the province which lay next to Egypt and embraced the modern states of Tripoli, Tunis, and the eastern part of Algeria to the meridian of Bougie. West of this lay _Maghrab_ or “the western land” which was divided into two districts, Central Maghrab, extending from the borders of Ifrikiya across the greater part of Algeria and the eastern third of Morocco, and _Farther Maghrab_, which was the land beyond to the Atlantic coast.

The Berber tribes were spread over all these provinces. In the eastern part of Ifrikiya the chief were the tribes of _Hwara_, _Luata_, _Nefusa_, and _Zuagha_: in Central Ifrikiya the _Warghu_ and _Nefzawa_: in western Ifrikiya the _Nefzawa_, _Katama_, _Awraba_, and a number of smaller tribes to the south: the chief tribes of Central Maghrab were the _Zuawa_ (or Zouaves), _Magbrawa_, and _B. Mzab_: and in Farther Maghrab the _B. Wanudin_, _Ghomara_ (in the Rif of Morocco), the _Miknasa_, etc. No satisfactory result has ever been attained by those who have tried to identify the ancient Numidians, Mauritanians, and Gaetuli with existing tribes; evidently, as in Arabia, there have been new groupings and new formations, which forbid the tracing back of the mediaeval tribal divisions to ancient times; perhaps it was Islam which finally rendered permanent the divisions as they existed in the first century of the Hijra. Amongst these Berber tribes were spread the tribes of Arab invaders and settlers which, even in the 10th century A.D. extended in scattered groups from the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic. For the most part each race preserved its own language, the Arabic dialects being distinguished by archaic forms, and a phonology somewhat modified by Berber influences; but there are several instances of Berber tribes which have adopted Arabic, and some of Arabs and mixed groups which have adopted the Berber language. For the most part the Arabs have had no reluctance to mingle with the Berbers, but the attitude of the Berbers varies, and some groups rigidly exclude intermarriage between themselves and the Arabs or any others.

The Kharijites, the oldest and most turbulent dissenting sect of Islam, the reactionaries who opposed the modification of Muslim customs under Hellenistic influence, had appeared in Maghrab early in the 2nd century of the Hijra after their suppression in Asia, and were still a living force there in the fourth century, when their very name was almost forgotten elsewhere. A small group of the less extreme branch of that sect, the Ibadites, still survives in strict isolation in South Algeria. The Idrisids, a dynasty descended from the house of Hasan the son of ʿAli, founded by Idris who escaped from the attempted extermination of his kinsmen at Madina in 169, ruled an independent state in Farther Maghrab in the fourth century. The Umayyads dethroned by the ʿAbbasids in 132, had a representative who escaped to North Africa, and then crossed to Spain where they founded a Khalifate at Cordova which, in the fourth century, had become a great and flourishing power. Indeed the Maghrab was too remote from the Khalifs of Baghdad ever to be under effective control: one after another punitive expeditions marched across North Africa, the disaffected were defeated, the remnant took refuge in the hills, and in the course of a few years or even months the former condition returned again. Obviously those western lands offered a promising field to the agitator, whether political rebel or sectarian leader, and Ibn Hawshab’s missionaries had evidently struck a promising vein in the Berber tribe of Katama.

Amongst those who attached themselves to Ibn Hawshab in Yemen was a certain Abu ʿAbdullah Hasan (or Husayn) b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Zakariya, afterwards surnamed ash-Shiʿi, a native of Sana and a zealous Shiʿite who had been inspector of weights and measures in one of the districts attached to Baghdad. He was a man not only of superior education and intelligence, but astute and with as good knowledge of how to deal with men. Before long he became one of Ibn Hawshab’s most trusty companions and, when the news came of the death of the two missionaries who had been sent to Africa, Ibn Hawshab determined to send him as _daʿi_, and provided him with the funds necessary for his enterprise. Later on we find him in Africa assisted by his brother, but we are without information as to whether this brother was sent to join him later or set out with him (Maqrizi ii. 11, Ibn Khallikan i. 465).

Abu ʿAbdullah’s first step was to go to Mecca and to find out where the Katama pilgrims were lodged. As soon as he discovered this he engaged a lodging near by and sat as close to them as he could, listening to their conversation. Before long they began to talk about the prerogatives of the house of ʿAli, a subject on which they had been instructed by the two missionaries who had already visited their country, and Abu ʿAbdullah joined in their conversation. When he stood up to go away they begged to be allowed to visit him, and to this he assented. They were delighted with his learning and began to frequent his society, and one day they asked him where he intended to go when he had finished his pilgrimage to Mecca. He replied that it was his intention to go to Egypt, so they begged him to join them as they would have to pass through Egypt on their homeward journey. They set out together, and the good opinion they had formed of him was greatly increased as they observed his piety, his regularity in the exercises of religion, and his ascetic character. During all this time he mentioned no word of his real intentions, but constantly directed the conversation to the subject of the land of Katama, and asked many questions about the neighbouring tribes and their relation with the governor of Ifrikiya. On this last subject the Katamites explained that they did not regard the governor as having any authority over them, his residence was ten days’ journey from their country, and his control was nil. He further enquired if they were accustomed to bear arms, and they replied that this was their usual occupation.

When they reached Egypt Abu ʿAbdullah said farewell to the Katama tribesmen but, as they expressed deep regret at the idea of leaving him, they asked what business he had to attend to in Egypt. He replied that he had no business there but simply intended to become a teacher. “If that is all,” they said, “our country will offer you a better field, and you will find more who are disposed to become your pupils, for we know your worth.” So as they pressed him warmly, he consented to continue in their company, and went on until they met some of their fellow tribesmen who came out to meet them. All these had come under the influence of the two former missionaries and were devoted Shiʿites and, when they heard the account given by the returning pilgrims, they welcomed Abu ʿAbdullah with every demonstration of respect.

At length, about the middle of Rabiʿ I. 288 (Feb., 900 A.D.) they reached home, and every one of his companions pressed the missionary to be his guest. He declined all these offers of hospitality and asked them to inform him where was the valley of _al-Khiyar_ (the righteous men). This enquiry greatly astonished them as no one could remember that such a name had ever been mentioned in his presence: they admitted, however, that there was such a place and described its situation, and he then told them that he would take up his abode there and visit each of them from time to time. He then set out with some guides to Mount Inkijan where the valley is situated, and when they arrived there he told his companions, “Here is the ‘Valley of the righteous men’ and it is on your account that it is thus named, for one reads in the traditions that ‘the Mahdi will be obliged to make his migration, and will be helped in his flight by the Righteous Men who will be on earth at that time, and by a nation whose name is derived from _kitman_’; it is because you will rise up in this valley which has been named ‘The valley of the Righteous Men’” (Maq. ii. 11). The derivation of the Berber name _Katama_ from the Arabic _kitman_ “secret” was, of course, no more than a play upon words.

Very soon the dwellers in the vicinity began to spread Abu ʿAbdullah’s reputation, men came from all parts to visit him, and he completely swayed a large body of Berber tribesmen amongst whom the Katama tribe was most prominent. He made, however, no further mention of the Mahdi, and did not seem to interest himself in the subject. But he connected his work with that of the two former missionaries and said: “I am the man entrusted with the sowing of whom Abu Safyan and Hulwani spoke to you,” and this increased their attachment towards him and his importance in their eyes (Maq. id. 37). Some, however, regarded him with disfavour, for evidently there were Berber tribes which had not adopted Shiʿite doctrines: but the Katama tribe under its chieftain Hasan b. Harun supported him, and took up arms against those who tried to interfere with his work. This inter-tribal dispute was the beginning of a long conflict, which ultimately made the Shiʿites dominant in North Africa. Supported by the Katama and a number of Kabyle tribes Hasan attacked and captured the town of Tarrut, and then advanced against Meila.

Already reports of the religious teacher of Mount Ankijan had spread through the province of Ifrikiya, and had reached Ibrahim b. Ahmad the Aghlabi Emir. These Aghlabids were hereditary governors of Ifrikiya established at Kairawan about 184 by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, to whom they paid tribute and were subject. Desirous of obtaining more accurate information Ibrahim had sent to the governor of Meila to make enquiry about Abu ʿAbdullah and his doings, but the governor had sent back to Kairawan a somewhat contemptuous account of him, in which he was described as a religious fanatic, a devotee revered as a saint by the ignorant people, and so the political possibilities of his activity were overlooked.

The taking of Tarrut and the advance on Meila, which city, after a brief resistance, was betrayed by some of its inhabitants, made a change in this attitude. Ibrahim sent an army under his brother Ahwal against Abu ʿAbdullah and his followers, and defeated them, after which Ahwal returned home fully convinced that the rising had been finally disposed of. From this defeat Abu ʿAbdullah retired to Mount Ankijan where he established a “house of flight,” and there he gathered his partisans around him. As soon as he heard of Ahwal’s retirement he began a series of forays, pillaging the surrounding districts and annoying those who did not join the Shiʿite sect. At this Ahwal made a new expedition, but this time he suffered a repulse, not severe enough to force him to retreat, but compelling him to be satisfied with a defensive police duty in the neighbourhood which was, however, effectual in checking the Shiʿite raids. But this did not last long. In 291 (= A.D. 903) Ibrahim the Aghlabi died, and the governorship passed to his son Ziadat Allah, a man indolent and entirely devoted to pleasure, who recalled his brother Ahwal from his military duties.

This, of course, opened new opportunities for Abu ʿAbdullah, and very soon his followers were ranging at will through the whole province of Ifrikiya, and he boldly declared that the Mahdi was now near at hand and would soon appear in Africa, and would prove his sacred mission by working miracles (Maq. ii. 11). Common report affirmed that Abu ʿAbdullah himself had done many wonders, even making the sun rise in the west, restoring the dead to life, and other marvels. Not only had he now a very large following amongst the Berber tribesmen, but many of the officers serving under Ziadat Allah were well disposed towards the Shiʿite claims, and were secretly in correspondence with Abu ʿAbdullah.

At this juncture, in 291, the Shiʿites were practically supreme in all the country west of the suburbs of Kairawan, and now Abu ʿAbdullah sent messengers over to the Mahdi inviting him to cross into Africa. Ismaʿil had just died at Salamiya, and shortly before his death advised his son Saʿid to migrate to a distant land. As soon as his father died Saʿid and his son Abu l-Kasam Nizar set out from Salamiya intending to go to Yemen, but hearing of the success in North Africa changed their course in that direction, probably meeting the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah on the way (cf. Ibn Khaldun ii. 515-516). The journey was beset with great perils, especially in the passing through Egypt. At that time the governor of Egypt was Abu Musa Isa b. Muhammad Nushari, who had been appointed after the death of Ibn Tulun in 292, and held office until the government was usurped by Khalanj in 293-4, after which the Khalif al-Muqtadi restored him to office which he held until his death in 297. Saʿid, or ʿUbayd Allah as he now preferred to call himself, arrived during this latter period of office, and the governor had grounds of suspicion about him without very clear information. The refugees left Misr, the old capital lying to the south of the present Cairo, but the governor followed and overtook them. He attempted no violence, but joined their company and induced them to rest with him in a garden, his guard meanwhile surrounding the place. He tried every means to win their confidence, and so to find out who they were and what was the object of their journey: he tried to coax ʿUbayd Allah to join him in taking refreshment, but ʿUbayd Allah declined on the pretext that he was then observing a fast: then he tried to get information by judicious questions, but in vain. At length he allowed ʿUbayd Allah to go on his way. He offered the travellers an escort, but this was politely declined. Then the governor assembled his men to return home, but many of them showed their discontent that the travellers had been allowed to escape, and on second thoughts the governor himself regretted that he had not detained them for further enquiry, and sent a body of men after them, but they had made good use of their start, and it proved impossible to overtake them. Some said that the governor had been bribed by ʿUbayd Allah, and this seems to be likely enough.

After this escape ʿUbayd Allah, his son, and Abu l-ʿAbbas, the brother of Abu ʿAbdullah, went on to Tripoli. The next town on their way would be Kairawan, and ʿUbayd Allah was distinctly anxious about venturing there, so he sent forward Abu l-ʿAbbas to obtain information. Now it appears that Ziadat Allah had much clearer grounds of suspicion than the Egyptian governor, and Abu l-ʿAbbas was not able to escape suspicion, and was taken prisoner. Ziadat Allah does not seem to have been so much interested in the prisoner himself, but made every endeavour to find out some details about the companions with whom he was travelling. Abu l-ʿAbbas denied that he had travelled with any companions, or that he had any knowledge of a fugitive from Syria: he asserted that he was simply a merchant passing through Ifrikiya on his own business. But Ziadat Allah’s suspicions were not allayed: Abu l-ʿAbbas was detained in custody, and a messenger was sent to Tripoli to secure the arrest of the other travellers. The messenger, however, returned with the reply that ʿUbayd Allah had already left the city before the order for his arrest had arrived. Again the suggestion is made that the governor of Tripoli had been won over by bribes. It is supposed that ʿUbayd Allah had been able to take with him a great part of his considerable wealth, and that it was easy for him to corrupt the provincial governors. Certainly he had information of what had befallen Abu l-ʿAbbas in Kairawan. At first he retired to Kastilia, but when he made sure that there was no possibility of Abu l-ʿAbbas getting free and joining him there, he went on to Sijilmassa (Maq. ii. 11).

At the time of his arrival in this town the ruling prince, al-Yasa b. Midrar, had no grounds of suspicion, and received the travellers very kindly. ʿUbayd Allah made him valuable presents, and they soon became intimate. One day, however, as they were sitting together, a letter from Ziadat Allah was put into al-Yasa’s hand, and in it the Aghlabi related the suspicions he had formed about ʿUbayd Allah. The governor immediately ordered the arrest of ʿUbayd Allah and his son, questioned them closely about their relations with Abu l-ʿAbbas, and the suggestion that they were in some way associated with Abu ʿAbdullah, but ʿUbayd Allah denied any knowledge of either of these. The father and son were then separated and confined in separate quarters, and the son, Abu l-Kasam, was examined apart, but no information of any sort could be obtained from him.

Meanwhile, since the departure of the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah to ʿUbayd Allah, the former had continued his career of conquest. Meila, Satif, and other towns immediately near the Katama territory were taken, and the governor at Kairawan was no longer able to disguise from himself that the Shiʿite revolt was threatening the very basis of Arab authority in Ifrikiya. Under these circumstances Ziadat Allah assembled a council of canonists to advise him about the Shiʿite claims. The meeting took place in the house of the prince’s chief adviser, Abdullah b. Essaig, and, after considering the religious character of Abu ʿAbdullah’s movement, and especially the report that “he cursed the Companions,” _i.e._, that he was a Shiʿite who cursed the first three Khalifs as usurpers who had excluded ʿAli from his rights, regardless of the fact that they had been the companions of the Prophet, they decided that Abu ʿAbdullah and his followers must be publicly denounced as heretics. Fortified with this decision which was necessary to stop the tendency of his own people to favour the Shiʿites, the Aghlabid assembled an army of 40,000 men whom he placed under a kinsman named Ibrahim b. Habashi b. ʿUmar at-Tamimi, and sent them against the Katama. Ibrahim took up his quarters at Konstantina l-Hawa, on the western edge of the Katama country, and there he stayed six months without actually attacking the Shiʿites, but serving as a check upon their movements. As soon as he appeared Abu ʿAbdullah retired to his usual retreat, “the house of flight,” and no further advance was made on either side. As Ahwal had already proved, this kind of patrol work was the most effective. But Ibrahim desired a decisive punishment of the revolted tribes, and rashly resolved to move out and attack Kerma, one of the cities occupied by the Shiʿites. On the way Abu ʿAbdullah met and defeated him, and he had to flee with the remnants of his army to Kairawan.

Matters were now becoming extremely serious, and Ziadat assembled a new force which he entrusted to Harun b. Tabni. Harun marched upon Daralmoluk and took it, but immediately afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah arrived with his main band, and a general engagement ensued, in which Harun was killed and his forces completely routed. After this victory Abu ʿAbdullah marched upon Banjas, which capitulated, and then was in a position to threaten Kairawan itself. We have now reached the year 295, and at this point Ziadat Allah raised a third army and took command himself. He advanced to Elaris, but there his courtiers began to remonstrate with him: if any disaster took place and he were involved it would mean the downfall of the Aghlabid dynasty, a result which would not necessarily proceed from the defeat of a subordinate general. Persuaded by his entourage Ziadat Allah appointed his kinsman Ibrahim as commander-in-chief, and himself retired to Raqada to the south-west of Kairawan, and gave himself over entirely to a life of pleasure.

Meanwhile Abu ʿAbdullah was extending his authority over the whole country. He was invited to Bagaya which he occupied, then took by force the small towns of Majana, Sash, and Maskanaya. His politic clemency at Bagaya produced a good impression, and did much to assist him in gaining over other towns. His success caused great alarm to Ziadat Allah, and he consulted ʿAbdullah b. Essaig, who advised him to retire to Egypt and leave a general in charge of the army, but Ibrahim persuaded him to abandon this idea. Soon afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah advanced to Merida, where were many refugees from the towns already taken. The inhabitants asked for terms, and Abu ʿAbdullah’s lieutenants agreed, the leader himself being absent. When the envoys from the citizens returned and the gates were opened to admit them, the attacking army made a sudden rush, forced their way in, and pillaged the city.

Abu ʿAbdullah now resolved to attack Raqada where Ziadat Allah was established. As he marched towards that town Ibrahim tried to intercept him, and for this purpose left al-Arbes where he was encamped, and occupied Derdemin, which lay near the route which Abu ʿAbdullah would have to take. On his way the Shiʿites sent a detachment to take Derdemin, without apparently being aware that this was now Ibrahim’s headquarters. The detachment was repulsed and put to flight. Abu ʿAbdullah was unable to understand why the detachment did not return, and went after them with reinforcements to find out. On the way they met their comrades in full flight from Derdemin, but at their arrival the fugitives stopped, turned back, and with the help of the new-comers inflicted a severe defeat on Ibrahim. This was followed by the submission of Qafra and Qastilia, the latter place being a general depot for Ziadat Allah’s munitions, provisions, and money, all of which fell into the Shiʿites’ hands. For the moment, however, Abu ʿAbdullah refrained from further advance: he settled at Bagaya and established his headquarters there, and then retired for a time on his own account to Mount Ankijan.

Ibrahim then decided to take the offensive and laid siege to Bagaya, news of which quickly brought Abu ʿAbdullah back from his retirement, bringing 12,000 newly enrolled tribesmen with him. But Bagaya was offering such a sturdy resistance to Ibrahim that the besieger was both astonished and discouraged, and, hearing of Abu ʿAbdullah’s approach, retired again to al-Arbes.

In the spring of the following year, A.H. 296, the two armies of Ziadat Allah and Abu ʿAbdullah both took the field. The historians state that the former numbered 200,000 men, the latter many more. It must, of course, be remembered that figures of this sort by oriental writers are hardly deserving of the least attention. An engagement took place with results unfavourable to Ibrahim, who forthwith retired to Kairawan, the strongest military stronghold in Africa. As a consequence of this Abu ʿAbdullah was enabled to enter al-Arbes, and a great massacre of the inhabitants took place, some 3,000 it is said being killed in the principal mosque. The following morning Abu ʿAbdullah retired to Bagaya. Next day the news reached Ziadat Allah. For some time ʿAbdullah b. Essaig endeavoured to conceal it from the citizens, but when he offered 20 dinars to each volunteer willing to serve in the cavalry, and 10 dinars to each recruit for the infantry, the citizens perceived that the state was reduced to the last extremities and a panic ensued, many of the nobles and their dependents leaving for Raqada. Ziadat Allah himself packed up his valuables, and with the favourite ladies of his harim set out for Egypt. ʿAbdullah b. Essaig was put in charge of the prince’s goods, and these were loaded on thirty camels, but unfortunately they missed their way as they started in the dark, and arrived at Susa where the governor impounded them, and they finally fell a prey to Abu ʿAbdullah. ʿAbdullah b. Essaig himself tried to escape by sea, but a storm drove his ship ashore at Tripoli just as Ziadat Allah, angry at missing his goods, was stopping there. The unfortunate minister was brought before the prince as a deserter, but made so good a defence that Ziadat Allah decided to pardon him; the courtiers, however, intervened, and he was beheaded.

After reaching Egypt, Ziadat Allah passed on to Rakka and sent forward messengers to the Khalif asking permission to present himself at Baghdad. A reply came forbidding him to attend at court and ordering him to await further instructions at Rakka. He stayed there a whole year which he spent in pleasure, and then received instructions to return to Africa, the governor of Egypt being directed to prepare supplies to equip him for an expedition against the Shiʿites. In accordance with these orders he travelled back to Egypt, where the governor told him to wait for the supplies at Dhatu l-Hammam. He waited there a long time in vain, and then, as he was now in broken health he started out for Palestine, but was taken worse on the way and died at Ramla. With him the Aghlabid dynasty of hereditary governors of Ifrikiya, under the ʿAbbasid Khalifate, came to an end.

When Abu ʿAbdullah heard of the Emir’s flight he went at once to Wady an-Namal, and sent forward 1,000 men under Arunaba b. Yusus and Hasan b. Jarir to Raqada. The news soon reached Kairawan, and a deputation was sent out to congratulate the Shiʿites. These emissaries thought to ingratiate themselves by making contemptuous and hostile reflections upon the late ruler, but Abu ʿAbdullah rebuked them, stating that Ziadat Allah had lacked neither courage nor intelligence, but that defeat had overtaken him because it was the will of God. His gracious reception of the envoys from Kairawan caused great annoyance to the Katama tribesmen, to whom he had made a promise that they would be allowed to plunder the city.

In Rajab I. 296 Abu ʿAbdullah, at the head of 300,000 men, entered Raqada to find the town entirely deserted by its inhabitants. He established himself in one of the empty mansions, and the leaders of the Katama occupied others (Maq. ii. 11). He then sent to Tripoli to fetch his brother Abu l-ʿAbbas and Abu Jaʿfar, as well as ʿUbayd Allah’s mother, who had apparently accompanied her son, though we hear no more about her. Abu ʿAbdullah was a fervent Shiʿite and established a strict puritan rule in Kairawan, death being the penalty for drinking wine or bringing it into the city. The Shiʿite formula was used in the call to prayer, which implied the addition of the words “come to the excellent work” to the orthodox call, and the names of ʿAli, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn were inserted in the _Khutba_ or public prayer at the Friday service. As in modern Persia the supreme authority was attributed to the concealed Imam, and the civil government based its rights on the claim to act as his deputy until the day of his revealing. In Kairawan the proper deputy would naturally be the Mahdi ʿUbayd Allah, but no public announcement was made of this as yet. The Khatibs of Kairawan and Raqada were ordered to omit the name of the ʿAbbasid Khalif from the _khutba_, but no other ruler’s name was inserted in its place. A new coinage was prepared, and this similarly bore no prince’s name; simply it had the inscription on one side, “I have borne my witness to God,” and on the other “May the enemies of God be scattered.”

During these events ʿUbayd Allah remained still imprisoned at Sijalmasa, but now the time had arrived for his supporters to rescue him. Abu ʿAbdullah’s two brothers, Abu l-ʿAbbas and Abu Zakir, who had hitherto taken no very prominent position, were left as deputies at Raqada, and Abu ʿAbdullah with a large body of followers marched towards Sijalmasa. The object most desired was of course the liberation of ʿUbayd Allah, and the danger was that the governor might put him and his son to death before the Shiʿites could rescue them. It was necessary, therefore, to avoid irritating al-Yasa the governor. Abu ʿAbdullah halted his army at some distance from the city, and sent forward envoys bearing a letter in which he assured al-Yasa that he desired no conflict, but only asked that ʿUbayd Allah and his son might be set free. Al-Yasa only threw the letter on the ground and had the envoys put to death. A second letter produced a similar result, and then Abu ʿAbdullah advanced and camped his men before the city, intending to make an attack on the following day. During the night al-Yasa escaped with all his portable goods and relatives. Next morning the inhabitants sent out and informed Abu ʿAbdullah, who went at once to the prison whence he liberated ʿUbayd Allah and his son. Leading the Mahdi out he showed him to the people, saying: “This is the Mahdi to whose obedience I invited men.” He then set him and his son on horses and paraded them through the streets, crying, “This is your lord,” frequently interrupting his cry with tears of joy. He conducted them to a tent which had been made ready for them, and sent a body of men in pursuit of al-Yasa (Maq. ii. 11-12). The fugitive governor was overtaken, brought back, and executed.

Ibn Khallikan gives another account of the taking of Sijalmasa, in which it is related that, before leaving the city al-Yasa executed ʿUbayd Allah, and when Abu ʿAbdullah entered his cell he found only the dead body and a faithful Jewish slave. Knowing that the absence of the Mahdi would be fatal to the whole Shiʿite scheme, he seized the slave, compelled him to silent acquiescence, and leading him out declared, “This is the Mahdi” (Ibn Khall. ii. 78). This is another form of the “Jewish legend,” to which we have already referred (cf. p. 47, above).

For forty days ʿUbayd Allah remained at Sijalmasa, and then, towards the end of Rabiʿ II. 297 he was conducted by Abu ʿAbdullah to Raqada. Here he assumed the title of “al-Mahdi, Commander of the Faithful,” and on the following Friday was prayed for under that title in the mosques of Raqada and Kairawan. On the same day the Sherif and the _duʿat_ held a public meeting, at which they tried to persuade the people of Raqada to become professed members of the Ismaʿilian sect. In this, however, they were only partially successful, although lavish rewards were offered to those who joined, and many of those who definitely refused were imprisoned, some even put to death. In fact we are now in quite different surroundings: the Mahdi was a successful adventurer, and had every prospect of establishing a principality quite as stable, and more independent than that of the Aghlabids: the religious pretensions of the Shiʿite party were only an embarrassment. From this time forward the Ismaʿilian sectaries form a privileged class, on the whole disliked and despised by the people generally, who were quite ready to submit to the Mahdi’s government, though deriding its spiritual claims; and the tendency is for the ruler rather to disembarrass himself of the sectaries.

Ziadat Allah’s harim was then presented to the Mahdi who, after selecting such women as met with his approval for himself and his son, distributed the remainder amongst the chief men of the Katama.

As soon as ʿUbayd Allah had entered Raqada the citizens had waited on him to obtain the renewal of the amnesty accorded by Abu ʿAbdullah. He replied to them, “Your lives and your children are safe.” They asked him if he would give them a similar assurance as to their property, but this he refused. This caused great anxiety amongst the citizens, who gathered that their property was regarded as at the disposal of the Shiʿites. At first ʿUbayd Allah showed a much more violent Shiʿism than Abu ʿAbdullah, although we seem justified in supposing that he was merely an adventurer who was entirely without religious convictions, whilst Abu ʿAbdullah seems to have been a devout Shiʿite: but this is by no means the only instance in history where religious persecution was carried out most severely by unbelievers. He caused the “Companions,” _i.e._, the three Khalifs preceding ʿAli, to be reviled openly, just as ʿAli himself had formerly been cursed publicly every Friday in the mosque of Damascus; and he strictly prohibited the canonists from teaching or using any system of jurisprudence other than that attributed to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq.