Abū Yazīd's father Kayrād was a trans-Saharan trader from Qastilia, where he was born; he had grown up in Tozeur, then head gone to Tahert, the Rustamid capital and the main center of (Ibadi) Kharijism in the Maghreb of the time and took up teaching.

The Nakkariyyah branch of Sufri Kharijism was named after him.

However, in 909 the Ismaili Shī‘ī Fatimids had conquered the Rustamids and, soon after, the Sufri state of Sijilmassa to the west.

Abū Yazīd had moved to Tiqyus and had begun agitating against Fatimid rule in 928.

When the Fatimid al-Mahdi died in 944, Abū Yazīd launches a rebellion in the Aures mountains and declares himself Shaykh al-Mu'minīn "Elder of the Believers", seeking aid from the Umayyads of Andalus.

Early in his rebellion, Abū Yazīd is given a gray donkey which he uses to ride, for which he receives the nickname "Possessor of the donkey.”

Abū Yazīd also habitually wears a short woolen jubba cloak and with his conspicuous frugality, he recalls the Kharijite imams of Tahert and Sijilmassa.

Abū Yazīd is initially notably successful.

He takes Baghai, then …

…Tebessa, …

…Medjama, and …

…several Tunisian cities, including Béja, where he is said to have massacred the civilian population.

The population of Tunis throws out their governor and lets Abū Yazīd in.

By the end of the year, …

…Abu Yazid has conquered Kairouan itself, dealing several severe defeats to the Fatimid armies.

Buluggin ibn Ziri, son of Ziri ibn Manad, founds the city of Algiers in 944.

The Fatimid realm has been plunged into crisis by the revolt of Abu Yazid, who has united the Kharijite Berber tribes of the Aurès Mountains of eastern Algeria and overrun Ifriqiya.

Imam Al-Qaim has been able to hold out in Mahdia with the help of the navy for over a year, but dies on May 17, 946 before the revolt can be put down.

He is succeeded by his son Ismail al-Mansur, under whose leadership the Fatimid forces recover their position, first breaking the siege of Sousse and then driving Abū Yazīd's forces out of Kairouan back into the Aurès Mountains.

The Fatimids in 947 finally defeat Abu Yazid’s rebels in the Kiyana Mountains near what will later become Qalaat Beni Hammad.

The Sanhaja Berbers had spread out, after the arrival of Islam, to the borders of the historic Sudan as far as the Senegal River and the Niger.

From the ninth century, Sanhaja tribes were established in the Middle Atlas range, in the Rif Mountains and on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

A part of the Sanhaja, such as the Kutama, settled in central/eastern Algeria and northern Niger.

They have played an important part in the rise of the Fatimids.

Ziri ibn Manad is a clan leader of the Berber Sanhaja tribe who, as an ally of the Fatimids, defeats the rebellion of Abu Yazid (943–947).

His reward is the governorship of the western provinces, an area that roughly corresponds with modern Algeria north of the Sahara.

Ziri has the gubernatorial residence of Ashir built southeast of the future site of Algiers, in which endeavor he is supported by the Fatimids with craftsmen and architects.