and he would say:
“The outward sense of the verses and hadiths has inner layers; the inner is the kernel, while the outward is but the husk.” He also said, “Every verse has an outer aspect and an inner aspect. Whoever attains knowledge of the inner has risen above the level of legal obligations (1).”
Abū ʿAbd Allāh was a man of guile, sharp intelligence, stratagem, and firm resolve, and he possessed a measure of learning. His fame spread in Qayrawan; the Berbers pledged allegiance to him and, on account of his asceticism, virtually deified him. The governor of Ifrīqiya sent men to frighten and threaten him, but he paid them no heed.
When the governor resolved to seize him, Abū ʿAbd Allāh roused his followers, fought, won several battles, and his cause became formidable. The ruler of Ifrīqiya then adopted the same stratagem once used by Muḥammad ibn Yaʿfur, the ruler of Yemen: he renounced the emirate, professed repentance, donned wool, restored confiscated properties, and set out on campaign against the Byzantines. After his departure authority passed to his son, Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad, while the father reached Sicily and from there went on to Taormina (2), which he captured.
He died of an intestinal illness in Dhū al-Qaʿda 289 AH. His reign had lasted twenty-eight years, and he was buried in Sicily (3).
Al-Shīʿī, now known as “the Eastern,” gained even greater renown; his armies multiplied and the search for ʿUbayd Allāh intensified. ʿUbayd Allāh set out with his young son, accompanied by Abū al-ʿAbbās, the brother of the missionary al-Shīʿī. By various stratagems they reached Tripoli in the Maghrib. Abū al-ʿAbbās then went on ahead to Qayrawan. Ziyādat Allāh al-Aghlabī (4) pressed his pursuit, apprehended Abū al-ʿAbbās and interrogated him; but Abū al-ʿAbbās persisted in denial, so the emir imprisoned him in Raqqāda.
When the Mahdī learned of this, he diverted to Sijilmāsa and settled there as a merchant. Once Ziyādat Allāh discovered his whereabouts, the city’s governor arrested the Mahdī and his son. Then