Abu 'Abdullah Al-Husayn Al-Shi'i
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Abu 'Abdullah Al-Husayn Al-Shi'i (d.28 February 911) was an Ismaili missionary in the Maghreb whose teachings influenced the rise of the Fatimid dynasty.
Abu 'Abdullah Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Zakariyya Al-Shi'i was born in Kufa in Iraq (or Sanaa, according to some accounts) and was active in the administration of the Abbasid Caliphate, before he began to associate with Ismaili teachers. At first he proselytised under the guidance of Ibn Haushab in Yemen and Mecca, where he was invited to the Maghreb by some pilgrims.
From 893 he preached Ismaili teachings amongst the Kutama Berbers (Sanhaja) and fashioned a militia to fight against the ruling Aghlabids. After holding off Aghlabid attempts to extirpate them, they conquered the whole of Ifriqiya in 909 and overthrew the dynasty.
The leader of the Ismaili Fatimids, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah, was released from prison in Sijilmasa and took the title of Caliph, ruling from Ar-Raqqada near Kairuan. Al-Shi'i had hoped that al-Mahdi would be a spiritual leader, and leave the administration of secular affairs to him, but he was soon disappointed. After being suspected of complicity in a revolt of Kutama leaders, he was put to death in 911.
