Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i

Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i was born al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya in Kufa in Iraq. Together with his older brother, Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad, he joined the Isma'ili missionary network (daʿwa) in the city around 891, linking with the Isma'ili dawah headquarters in Salamiyah in Syria.[1][2] According to the eastern Arabic sources, they were recruited by Hamdan Qarmat, the leader of the daʿwa at Kufa, who soon sent the brothers on a mission to Egypt.[2]

From there, Abu Abdallah joined the annual Hajj caravans of pilgrims to Mecca, and then followed the returning Yemeni caravans to Yemen.[2] An active branch of the daʿwa had been operating there since 881, under Ibn Hawshab in the west, near Sana'a, and Ali ibn al-Fadl al-Jayshani in the southern part of the country.[3] Abu Abdallah arrived in Yemen in April 892 and joined Ibn Hawshab, but after barely a year, he was ordered to return to Mecca where he was told to establish a new daʿwa among the Kutama Berbers in North Africa.[2]

Following usual practice, he was to be accompanied by another dāʿī, Abdallah ibn Abi'l-Malahif, but the latter was replaced by Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Zabidi.[2] Ibrahim became Abu Abdallah's lieutenant, becoming known as "the lesser lord" (al-sayyid al-ṣaghīr) among the Kutama, and remained with him until the conquest of Ifriqiya in 909.[2]

Map of the fall of the Aghlabid Emirate to the Kutama led by Abu Abdallah

In Mecca, Abu Abdallah won the trust of Kutama Berber pilgrims, who boasted of their independence and autonomy from the Aghlabids, and accompanied them to the Maghreb, arriving there in 893. From his base in Ikjan, he propagated Isma'ili doctrine among Berber tribes achieving rapid success. With his Kutama army of followers, he managed overthrew the Aghlabids and take over Raqqada in 909.[1]

Abu Abdallah's work was carried out in anticipation of the appearance of Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, the imam-caliph of the Fatimids. Al-Mahdi left his original headquarters in Salamiyah, Syria and settled in Sijilmasa (present-day Morocco), where he was placed under house arrest. Abu Abdallah and his brother rescued al-Mahdi, bringing him to Raqqada where he was proclaimed as caliph, ruling from the former residence of the Aghlabids.[1]

Abu Abdullah had hoped that al-Mahdi would be a purely spiritual leader and leave the administration of secular affairs to him. When this arrangement did not eventuate, Abu Abdullah's brother Abu al-Abbas encouraged him to overthrow al-Mahdi, but he was unsuccessful. Kutama commander Ghazwiyya disclosed the plot to al-Mahdi, who arranged for both Abu Abdallah and his brother to be executed in 911.[4]

• List of Da'is

• Brett, Michael (2001). The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE. The Medieval Mediterranean. Vol. 30. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11741-5.
• Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2.
• Halm, Heinz (1991). Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden [The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids] (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. ISBN 3-406-35497-1.
• Madelung, Wilferd; Walker, Paul E. (2021). Affirming the Imamate: Early Fatimid Teachings in the Islamic West. An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Works Attributed to Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī and his brother Abu’l-ʿAbbās. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-7556-3732-4.
• Walker, Paul E. (2008). "Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Shīʿī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Stewart, Devin J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_SIM_0282. ISSN 1873-9830.