of the Islamic world, allowed them to travel with anonymity. After completing the rituals of the pilgrimage at Mecca, the two men arrived in northern Yemen in August. The Yemen was at the time a troubled province of the Abbasid empire. Caliphal authority had traditionally been weak and mostly limited to the capital, Sana'a, while in the rest of the country tribal conflicts, sometimes dating to pre-Islamic times, persisted. At the time of Ibn al-Fadl and Ibn Hawshab's arrival, the country was politically fragmented and only loosely under Abbasid suzerainty. Much of the interior was held by the Yu'firid dynasty, who as Sunnis recognized the Abbasids. After capturing Sana'a in 861, their rule extended from Sa'ada in the north to (northeast of Taiz) in the south and Hadramawt in the east. A rival dynasty, the Ziyadids, also nominally loyal to the Abbasids, held Zabid on the western coastal plain, and at times exercised significant control over wide portions of the country. The Banu Manakh family ruled the southern highlands around Taiz, while the northern parts of the country were in practice dominated by warring tribes owing allegiance to no-one. The lack of political unity, the remoteness of the province and its inaccessible terrain, along with deep-rooted Shi'a sympathies in the local population, made Yemen "manifestly fertile territory for any charismatic leader equipped with tenacity and political acumen to realise his ambitions". After travelling through Sana'a and al-Janad, Ibn Hawshab stayed for a while in Aden. At some point then or earlier, Ibn al-Fadl left his colleague, returning to his home region, where he began independently proselytizing in the mountains of Jebel Yafi'i. From this base in the mountains, he began spreading his message in the surrounding areas. He soon secured the support of the ruler of Mudhaykhira. With his help, Ibn al-Fadl led successful attacks against the Emir of Lahj, who controlled the highlands north of Aden. At the same time Ibn Hawshab created another Isma'ili stronghold to the north of the country, in the mountains northwest of Sana'a. Both men propagated the belief in the imminent coming of the . While the two Isma'ili s expanded their influence, in 897, another Shi'a leader entered Yemen: al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, a representative of the rival Zaydi sect, established a state based in Sa'ada, with himself as imam. In the original Isma'ili doctrine, the expected was Muhammad ibn Isma'il. However, in 899,