أبو يزيد
Abu Yazid's father Kayrad was a Zenata Berber trans-Saharan trader from Taqyus or Tozeur in the district of Chott el Djerid, then still known by its ancient name, Qastiliya. His mother Sabika was a Black African slave, bought by Kayrad at Tadmakat. Abu Yazid was born , south of the Sahara Desert, either in Gao or in Tadmakka (modern-day Essouk). Coupled with his mother's descent, this brought him the sobriquet "the Black Ethiop" ("al-Ḥabashī al-Aswad"). Abu Yazid studied the Ibadi doctrine ("madhhab") and worked in Tahert as a schoolmaster, before moving to Takyus around 909, during the overthrow of the Aghlabid emirs and the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate by Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah ().