Editing Fatimid Caliphate (section)

====The secret network====
While the awaited ''mahdi'' Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who would gather the faithful, spread the word (''[[da'wa]]'', "invitation, calling"), and prepare his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of the imam's existence, or "seal" (''hujja'').{{sfn|Halm|1991|pp=29–30}} It is in this role that the ancestors of the Fatimids are first documented. The first known ''hujja'' was a certain [[Ahmad al-Wafi|Abdallah al-Akbar]] ("Abdallah the Elder"), a wealthy merchant from [[Khuzestan]], who established himself at the small town of [[Salamiya]] on the western edge of the [[Syrian Desert]].{{sfn|Halm|1991|pp=16–20}} Salamiya became the centre of the Isma'ili ''da'wa'', with Abdallah al-Akbar being succeeded by his son and grandson as the secret "grand masters" of the movement.{{sfn|Halm|1991|pp=22–24}}{{sfn|Daftary|2007|p=100}}

In the last third of the ninth century, the Isma'ili ''da'wa'' spread widely, profiting from the collapse of Abbasid power in the [[Anarchy at Samarra]] and the subsequent [[Zanj Revolt]], as well as from dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the [[Political quietism in Islam|political quietism]] of their leadership and the recent disappearance of the twelfth imam.{{sfn|Daftary|2007|p=108}} Missionaries (''[[da'i]]''s) such as [[Hamdan Qarmat]] and [[Ibn Hawshab]] spread the network of agents to the area round [[Kufa]] in the late 870s, and from there to [[Yemen]] (882) and thence India (884), [[Bahrayn (historical region)|Bahrayn]] (899), [[Persia]], and the [[Maghreb]] (893).{{sfn|Madelung|1978|p=198}}{{sfn|Halm|1991|p=47}}{{sfn|Daftary|2007|pp=108–10}}