During these events ʿUbayd Allah remained still imprisoned at Sijalmasa, but now the time had arrived for his supporters to rescue him. Abu ʿAbdullah’s two brothers, Abu l-ʿAbbas and Abu Zakir, who had hitherto taken no very prominent position, were left as deputies at Raqada, and Abu ʿAbdullah with a large body of followers marched towards Sijalmasa. The object most desired was of course the liberation of ʿUbayd Allah, and the danger was that the governor might put him and his son to death before the Shiʿites could rescue them. It was necessary, therefore, to avoid irritating al-Yasa the governor. Abu ʿAbdullah halted his army at some distance from the city, and sent forward envoys bearing a letter in which he assured al-Yasa that he desired no conflict, but only asked that ʿUbayd Allah and his son might be set free. Al-Yasa only threw the letter on the ground and had the envoys put to death. A second letter produced a similar result, and then Abu ʿAbdullah advanced and camped his men before the city, intending to make an attack on the following day. During the night al-Yasa escaped with all his portable goods and relatives. Next morning the inhabitants sent out and informed Abu ʿAbdullah, who went at once to the prison whence he liberated ʿUbayd Allah and his son. Leading the Mahdi out he showed him to the people, saying: “This is the Mahdi to whose obedience I invited men.” He then set him and his son on horses and paraded them through the streets, crying, “This is your lord,” frequently interrupting his cry with tears of joy. He conducted them to a tent which had been made ready for them, and sent a body of men in pursuit of al-Yasa (Maq. ii. 11-12). The fugitive governor was overtaken, brought back, and executed. Ibn Khallikan gives another account of the taking of Sijalmasa, in which it is related that, before leaving the city al-Yasa executed ʿUbayd Allah, and when Abu ʿAbdullah entered his cell he found only the dead body and a faithful Jewish slave. Knowing that the absence of the Mahdi would be fatal to the whole Shiʿite scheme, he seized the slave, compelled him to silent acquiescence, and leading him out declared, “This is the Mahdi” (Ibn Khall. ii. 78). This is another form of the “Jewish legend,” to which we have already referred (cf. p. 47, above).