Upon his accession to the caliphate, he dismissed Ibn Kighlagh from Sijistan. Muhammad bin Talfaj arrived to assume the emirate, but Ibn Kighlagh refused to hand it over. They quarreled until they resorted to the sword. After fierce battles, Muhammad bin Talfaj was victorious, and Ahmad bin Kighlagh fled with his followers to Barqa, and from there to Qayrawan.

In this year, in the middle of Rabi' al-Awwal, al-Radi billah died. His caliphate lasted for six years, and he was known for his literary and poetic talent. His illness lasted for two years and ten days, and his age was...

His poetry: "Every companion is like a thorn, every person..." "O secure one, who is lost in the night of glory..." "Son of him who was before us..." "He studied the eye and the gaze..." "He is the most eloquent of speakers, a preacher who praises mankind."

The Fatimid State Qayrawan and the coasts of the Maghreb were under the authority of an independent state from the Abbasids, called the Fatimid State, named after the Fatimids. They were from Kutama, near Ifriqiya in the western part of Africa, and they claimed descent from Isma'il, the sixth Imam of the lineage of Ali, and in other words, from the lineage of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, hence their title. They were also called Isma'ilis, Ubaydis, and Alawis. They had begun to spread their authority since the year 296 AH in Ifriqiya and its western regions.

Among the parties were the Aghlabids and the Idrissids, who had renounced obedience to the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad and the Umayyad Caliphs in Andalusia.

The leader of the Fatimids, Abu Abd Allah Ubayd Allah, seized Qayrawan in the year 296 AH.

Feeling strong, he claimed the caliphate and was proclaimed Caliph Abd Allah al-Mahdi in the year 297 AH.

He was the last of the Alawi Imams, claiming to be from them and more deserving of the caliphate than his equals. The Islamic state was thus divided into three states, each with a caliph claiming legitimacy to the caliphate: the Umayyads in Andalusia, the Abbasids in Baghdad, and the Fatimids in Qayrawan.

When Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi heard of the Fatimids' situation, with its wealth and prosperity, he coveted it and began to seek its conquest.

He sent to Sijistan a force of one hundred thousand fighters. After five years of his caliphate, in the year 301 AH...