Another report maintains that his name was Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥusayn and that his father, al-Ḥusayn, had arrived in Salamiyya.

A woman—the widow of a Jewish blacksmith—was pointed out to him (1). Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qaddāḥ married her. She already had a son by the Jew, whom al-Ḥusayn came to love and educate.

When al-Ḥusayn lay dying he entrusted that boy with certain matters, disclosed to him the Bāṭinite secrets, provided him with funds, and sent out preachers on his behalf.

Historians differ and have spoken at length about the story of ʿUbayd Allāh al-Qaddāḥ, the son of Maymūn ibn Daysān. They relate that this Daysān was the author of the heretical work al-Mīzān and that he professed allegiance to the Prophet’s Household.

They also report that Maymūn ibn Daysān was succeeded by his son ʿAbd Allāh, who practised eye-surgery and had learnt tricks and stratagems from his father. ʿAbd Allāh travelled through the districts of Isfahān and on to Baṣra, and then to Salamiyya, calling people to the cause of the Ahl al-Bayt. After his death, his son Aḥmad assumed the mission.

Aḥmad was joined by Rustum ibn Hawshab al-Najjār al-Kūfī, whom he sent to Yemen to canvass support, and the people there responded. From Ṣanʿāʾ—having been in Aden—Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī came to him, attached himself to him, and became one of his leading companions. Abū ʿAbd Allāh was astute, learned, and exceptionally intelligent.

Ibn Hawshab then dispatched missionaries toward the Maghrib. The Kutāma tribe accepted his call, whereupon Ibn Hawshab sent Abū ʿAbd Allāh to them with a large sum of gold in 280 AH, and the events unfolded as they did (2).

This is one version. We now turn to another, more widely known, account.

The Mahdī’s father—so I mean—sent Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī, who remained in Yemen for some years. He then performed the pilgrimage and encountered a party of Kutāma pilgrims. He impressed them, and they took him to the Maghrib, where he led them astray (3), and he was