It is also said that when the Shīʿī entered the prison—the one in which this very ʿUbayd Allāh had been confined (1)—he discovered that the ruler of Sijilmāsa had already killed him. Inside he found an unknown man, brought him out before the people, and proclaimed, “This is the Mahdī.” He promoted the claim and gave it currency, and those who later ruled are descended from that man. Al-Qāḍī Ibn Khallikān transmits this version (2).

This Mahdī is reported to have been born in 260 AH, though some say earlier and others later, at Salamiyya, while a different report places his birth in Kūfa. The first public summons for him was announced from the pulpits of Raqqāda and al-Qayrawān on Friday, nine days before the end of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 297 AH, after his return from Sijilmāsa; his initial appearance there had been in Dhuʾl-Ḥijja of the preceding year, 296. From that moment the ʿAbbāsid authority disappeared from that region and did not return until al-ʿĀḍid died in 567 AH (3).

He himself died in al-Mahdiyya—which he had built during his reign—on the night of Tuesday, the fifteenth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of that same year, having exceeded sixty years of age according to the most reliable report. To Allah belongs the final outcome of all affairs, and He will judge between the command-giver and the one commanded on the Day of Resurrection.

Among the notable figures who also died in that year were:

• Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah, the Dīnawarī, judge of Egypt (4). He transmitted his father’s renowned works (5) and died while still holding the judiciary of the Egyptian provinces in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year (6).

• Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Qāsim, Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī (7); some say his name was Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, and it is said: