He was a faqih (religious scholar), originally from Egypt, who had fled Córdoba and sought refuge in Dénia when Sulayman, with an army of Berbers, had deposed the caliph Hisham II in 1013.
[7] Within months of al-Mu'ayti's appointment, Mujahid set out on an expedition to conquer the island of Sardinia in the name of the new caliph.
According to the historian Ibn 'Idhari, Sulayman was distracted by the elevation of al-Mu'ayti as his rival and did not foresee the uprising of Ali, who soon had himself proclaimed caliph, although he was not of Umayyad descent.
There he "eked out his remaining days as a wandering teacher, no doubt enthralling his pupils with tall stories of how he had once been the successor of the Prophet".
[5] With al-Mu'ayti removed, Mujahid recognised Sulayman ibn al-Musta'in's successor in Córdoba, Abd al-Rahman al-Murtada, as caliph in 1017 or 1018.