After this escape ʿUbayd Allah, his son, and Abu l-ʿAbbas, the brother of Abu ʿAbdullah, went on to Tripoli. The next town on their way would be Kairawan, and ʿUbayd Allah was distinctly anxious about venturing there, so he sent forward Abu l-ʿAbbas to obtain information. Now it appears that Ziadat Allah had much clearer grounds of suspicion than the Egyptian governor, and Abu l-ʿAbbas was not able to escape suspicion, and was taken prisoner. Ziadat Allah does not seem to have been so much interested in the prisoner himself, but made every endeavour to find out some details about the companions with whom he was travelling. Abu l-ʿAbbas denied that he had travelled with any companions, or that he had any knowledge of a fugitive from Syria: he asserted that he was simply a merchant passing through Ifrikiya on his own business. But Ziadat Allah’s suspicions were not allayed: Abu l-ʿAbbas was detained in custody, and a messenger was sent to Tripoli to secure the arrest of the other travellers. The messenger, however, returned with the reply that ʿUbayd Allah had already left the city before the order for his arrest had arrived. Again the suggestion is made that the governor of Tripoli had been won over by bribes. It is supposed that ʿUbayd Allah had been able to take with him a great part of his considerable wealth, and that it was easy for him to corrupt the provincial governors. Certainly he had information of what had befallen Abu l-ʿAbbas in Kairawan. At first he retired to Kastilia, but when he made sure that there was no possibility of Abu l-ʿAbbas getting free and joining him there, he went on to Sijilmassa (Maq. ii. 11). At the time of his arrival in this town the ruling prince, al-Yasa b. Midrar, had no grounds of suspicion, and received the travellers very kindly. ʿUbayd Allah made him valuable presents, and they soon became intimate. One day, however, as they were sitting together, a letter from Ziadat Allah was put into al-Yasa’s hand, and in it the Aghlabi related the suspicions he had formed about ʿUbayd Allah. The governor immediately ordered the arrest of ʿUbayd Allah and his son, questioned them closely about their relations with Abu l-ʿAbbas, and the suggestion that they were in some way associated with Abu ʿAbdullah, but ʿUbayd Allah denied any knowledge of either of these. The father and son were then separated and confined in separate quarters, and the son, Abu l-Kasam, was examined apart, but no information of any sort could be obtained from him.