This rejection emerged early in the Mahdi's own reign. It appears that the general popular sentiment, raised on Salafism and Malikism, was the pioneer of this rejection, as the first opposition to the Mahdiya took the form of uprisings and revolutions by tribes during the reign of the Mahdi and Abd al-Mu'min and their successors.

During the Mahdi's reign, many tribes were hesitant to accept his call, and others revolted against him after responding to him. We surmise that his declaration of the Mahdiya and his statements about the Imamate played the primary role in this hesitation and revolt. It seems that the people of Tinmel themselves reconsidered their response to his call when they closely examined his ideas, especially concerning the Imamate, when he came among them and stayed with them at their invitation. Perhaps, as a result of their suspicion of him, they thought of entrapping him, but he was faster than them. He preempted them by entrapping them, as was revealed by their fate, which Ibn al-Qattan depicted in his saying: "We have mentioned previously, 'He carefully considered their affair.'"

This incident, known as the incident of "al-Tamyiz" (distinguishing), reveals some signs of rejection of the Mahdiya. Abu Muhammad al-Bashir, who carried out the process of "al-Tamyiz" against the dissenters, hypocrites, and the wicked among the monotheists, was not described this way by al-Baydaq except as a reflection of the state of those who harbored doubts about the Mahdi. This is what Ibn Idhari clearly mentioned in his words, speaking about the same incident: "No one leaves the left except he who is doubtful that the Imam is the known Mahdi."

During the reign of Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali and his son Yusuf, the popular rejection of the Mahdiya was represented by the many successive uprisings carried out by several tribes in the Maghreb after the establishment of the Mahdiya.