Note 618 — Chapter VI · (continued 2)

Abu Yazid, according to Abulfeda (Annal. Mosl., vol. II. p. 240), was a barbarian of the tribe of Zenata (one of the Berbers), son of Condad and an Ethiopian mother. He feigned sanctity, and belonged to a sect inimical to the Muselmans, whom he persecuted with relentless fury. Herbelot says, he was a chancellor of Abúl-Kasem Muhammed Kayem, the second khalif of the Fatimites, who succeeded his father Obaid-alla, in the year of the Hejira 322 (A. D. 933). Abu Yazid rose in rebellion against his master, and brought the empire to the greatest peril; but, after many successes and conquests, he was defeated, taken prisoner, and died of his wounds, in the year of the Hejira 336 (A. D. 947).