Ikjan (, ) is a former town near the present-day town of

Beni Aziz Beni Aziz is a town and commune in Sétif Province in north-eastern Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algi ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. Between 902 and 909 it served as the base and capital of the

Kutama The Kutama ( Berber: ''Ikutamen''; ar, كتامة) was a Berber tribe in northern Algeria classified among the Berber confederation of the Bavares. The Kutama are attested much earlier, in the form ''Koidamousii'' by the Greek geographer Ptolemy. ...

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

led by the '' dā'ī'' (missionary)

Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, better known as Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i ( ar, ابو عبد الله الشيعي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shi'ī), was an Isma'ili missionary ('' dāʿī'') active in Yemen and North Africa, mainly amon ...

, who had founded an

Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

Shi'a Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

state in the region on behalf of the

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...

cause. This new movement rose in opposition to the

Aghlabid dynasty The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, ...

, which ruled the region of

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...

formally on behalf of the

Abbasid Caliphs The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came t ...

. The site of Ikjan was considered impregnable. In 909 Abu Abdallah and the Kutama armies finally overthrew the Aghlabids and set themselves up in Raqqada, laying the foundations for the

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

, which was formally established with the enthronement of the first caliph, Abd Allah al-Mahdi, later that year.

References

Former populated places in Algeria {{Sétif-geo-stub