Ziyadat Allah III of Ifriqiya

Biography Campaign map of the fall of the Aghlabid Emirate to the Isma'ili Kutama Berbers under Abu Abdallah al-Shi'iHe came to power after the murder of his father Abdallah II on 27 July 903. He immediately had all his brothers and uncles executed

Abu Abdallah, backed by the Kutama Berber tribe, took advantage of the instability following Ziyadat Allah's accession to capture the city of Sétif in October/November of 904. In 905, an Aghlabid force was sent west, towards Kutama territory, to restore order, but was ambushed and routed by Kutama horsemen a day after leaving Constantine. Another campaign was planned for 906, but in March the Aghlabid troops mutinied in Kairouan, where they released all the prisoners from the city's jails. Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i then went on the offensive again, capturing the cities of Tubna and Bilizma. While Ibn Idhari says that both cities fell at the end of Dhu al-Hijjah in 293 AH, Mohamed Talbi places the date of Bilizma's surrender in the middle of 294 AH, i.e. the spring of 907 CE.