Beginning in 902, the dā'ī Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had openly challenged the Abbasids' representatives in the eastern Maghreb (Ifriqiya), the Aghlabid dynasty. After a succession of victories, the last Aghlabid emir left the country, and the dā'ī's Kutama troops entered the palace city of Raqqada on 25 March 909. Abu Abdallah established the Fatimid Caliphate, a new Shi'a regime, on behalf of his absent, and for the moment unnamed, master.