أبو يزيد
In 928, Abu Yazid began his anti-Fatimid agitation. He was arrested but quickly released, and moved to the Aurès Mountains in what is now eastern Algeria, finding refuge with the Hawwara tribe. The area had in the previous decades been converted to the Nukkari branch of Ibadi Islam, and was a major centre of the sect, with its own local imam, Abu Ammar Abd al-Hamid al-A'ma. Abu Yazid soon succeeded in gaining a large following among the Hawwara, and was elected by them as their leader ("shaykh al-Muslimīn", "elder of the true believers"). Thereupon Abu Ammar relinquished his leadership to him as the more worthy one ("afḍal"), in accordance with the Nukkari doctrine. When Fatimid agents arrested Abu Yazid again in Tozeur, Abu Ammar broke him out of prison. Abu Yazid then spent a year at Sumata, before returning to the Aurès.