'Abû Yazîd Mukhallad ibn Kayrâd' (أبو يزيد مخلد بن كيراد), nicknamed ''Sâhib al-Himâr'' or "Owner of the Donkey", was a
Kharijite Berber who led a rebellion against the
Fatimids in
Ifriqiya (modern
Tunisia and eastern
Algeria) starting in
944. He conquered
Kairouan for a time, but was eventually driven back and defeated by the
Fatimid caliph al-Mansur.
His father Kayrad was a trans-Saharan trader from
Qastilia, where he was born; he grew up in
Tozeur. He inclined towards the Nakkariyya branch of
Sufri Kharijism. After he grew up, he went to
Tahert, the
Rustamid capital and the main center of (
Ibadi) Kharijism in the
Maghreb of the time, and took up teaching. In
909, however, the
Shia Fatimids conquered the
Rustamids, and soon after the
Sufri state of
Sijilmassa to the west. He moved to
Tiqyus, and in
928 began agitating against Fatimid rule. When the Fatimid "
Mahdi" died in
944, he launched a rebellion in the
Aures mountains and declared himself ''Shaykh al-Mu'minîn'' (Elder of the Believers), seeking aid from the
Umayyads of
Andalus. Early in his rebellion Abu Yazid was given a gray
donkey which he used to ride, for which he received his nickname "Owner of the Donkey"; he is said to have habitually worn a short woolen ''
jubba'' cloak. In this conspicuous frugality, he recalled the Kharijite
imams of
Tahert and
Sijilmassa.
He was initially notably successful. He took
Baghai, then
Tebessa, then
Medjana, then several Tunisian cities including
Béja, where he is said to have massacred the civilian population. The population of
Tunis threw out their governor and let Abu Yazid in. By the end of the year, he had conquered
Kairouan itself, dealing several severe defeats to the Fatimid armies.
In
945, as Abu Yazid besieged
Sousse, the Fatimid ruler
al-Qaim died, and was succeeded by his son
al-Mansur. Under al-Mansur's leadership, the Fatimid forces recovered their position, first breaking the siege of Sousse, then driving Abu Yazid's forces out of Kairouan, back into the Aures Mountains. In
947, the Fatimids finally defeated them in the mountains of
Kiyana, near what would later become
Qalaat Beni Hammad.
W. K. R. Hallam, in "The Bayajidda legend in Hausa folklore", ''Journal of African History'' VII.1 (1966), argues that the
Hausa culture hero
Bayajidda represents a folk personification of supporters of Abu Yazid who fled North Africa after his defeat.
External links
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Abu Yazid al-Khariji
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Ibn Khaldun on Al-Waraq