page_title: Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i
section_title: Mission among the Kutama and conquest of Ifriqiya
hierarchical_section_title: Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i / Mission among the Kutama and conquest of Ifriqiya
context_page_description: Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, better known as Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, was an Isma'ili missionary active in Yemen and North Africa, mainly among the Kutama Berbers. He was successful in converting and unifying a large part of the Kutama, leading them to the conquest of Ifriqiya in 902–909 and the overthrow of the Aghlabid dynasty. This allowed the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya under the imam–caliph Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, but the latter quickly fell out with Abu Abdallah, and had him executed on 28 February 911.
context_section_description: At Mecca, Abu Abdallah met some Kutama Berbers that boasted of their independence and autonomy from the Aghlabids. Abu 'Abdullah sensed a chance and decided to follow their invitation to the Maghrib, where he arrived in 280/893. After successfully preaching the Ismaili doctrine among the Kutama, he was able to form a powerful army consisting of Berber peasants. He began conquering the cities of Ifriqiya up to the point where he finally took over ar-Raqqada, the palace city of the Aghlabids near Kairuan, in 909.
  All this had been done by him to prepare for the appearance of Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, the imam-caliph of the Fatimids. Al-Mahdi was rescued from a prison in Sijilmasa (present-day Morocco) and proclaimed as caliph, ruling from the former residence of the Aghlabids.
  Al-Shi'i had hoped that al-Mahdi would be a spiritual leader, and leave the administration of secular affairs to him, his brother al Hasan instigated him to overthrow Imam Al Mahdi Billah but he was unsuccessful. After disclosing the plot against al-Mahdi by the Kutama Berber commander Ghazwiyya, who then assassinated Abu abdallah on February 911. Imam Mehdi then prayed on his Janaza and forgave him while praying lanat for his brother.
caption: Map of the fall of the Aghlabid Emirate to the Kutama led by Abu Abdallah