 Roger Collins notes that both modern historians and ancient Arab authors have had a tendency to portray Shaqya as a fanatic followed by credulous fanatics, and to argue that he was either self-deluded or fraudulent in his claim of Fatimid descent.However, Collins considers him an example of the messianic leaders that were not uncommon among Berbers at that time and earlier.He compares Shaqya to Idris I, a descendant of Ali accepted by the Zanata Berbers, who founded the Idrisid dynasty in 788, and to Salih ibn Tarif, who ruled the Bargawata Berber in the 770s.