Abu Abdallah Ash-Shii

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Abu Abdallah Ash-Shiʿi (Arabic ابو عبد الله الشعي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shiʿī) was a Daʿi for the Ismaʿilis in Yemen and North Africa, mainly among the Kutama Berbers.

Abu ʿAbdallah became a daʿi in southern Iraq and went to the Yaman to work along with Ibn Hawshab. During a pilgrimage to Mecca in 279/892 he met some Kutama berbers that boasted of their independence and autonomy from the Aghlabids. Abu ʿAbdallah 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 them 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, not far from Kairouan in 909. All this was done by him to prepare the powerful appearance of al-Mahdi, the imam-caliph of the Fatimids who finally came from his hideout in Sijimasa, today Morocco. After al-Mahdi was proclaimed the caliph, Abu ʿAbdallah's fortune was in decline, the newly installed imam-caliph did not meet his expectations and after a short uprise of disillusioned followers, al-Mahdi purged his opponents, including Abu ʿAbdallah.