When Muhammad ibn Abi Zaynab called with this call and proclaimed it, Ismail ibn Abi al-Tayyib and Abu Muhammad al-Abdi placed their hands in each other's and began saying: "The Messenger of God has spoken the truth," until there remained no tribe in Kufa but they called within it. Their voices traveled with the wind alongside the voice of Muhammad, reaching wherever it reached. Kufa broke into a clamor and was shaken. The people went out rushing toward the minaret of the mosque seeking the caller, but they saw no one there, though the voice continued as it was. Likewise, the voices of Ismail ibn Abi al-Tayyib and Abu Muhammad al-Abdi were heard among the tribes of Kufa; they would be heard in one tribe, and the people would seek the source but find no one, then it would be heard in another tribe. This continued until the sun rose.

The voice reached the ears of Abu Ja'far al-Dawaniqi [the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur] — may God curse him — while he was in the city of Baghdad in his Green Palace which he had built for himself, lying in his bed. He was terrified and sat up. The city clamored with all who were in it; the maids and servants rushed from the private chambers to him, saying: "The Resurrection has begun!" He replied: "I have no knowledge of that." All the people of his kingdom continued entering upon him saying: "O our lord, what is this calamity?!" He said: "It appears to me that it is one of the calamities of this Hijazi who is in Kufa; he has seduced its people and is called among them the Imam of the Shia. He is of a folk who are the root of sorcery, divination, deception, and trickery. If the matter is as it seems to me in truth, then I am sending for him to bring him before me and ask him about this sorcery he manifested tonight. If he is truthful with me, I shall imprison him where his sorcery avails him not; and if he is not truthful, I shall kill him and follow his death with the killing of all who have made him their Imam."