The renewed failure of the second invasion of Egypt was a considerable embarrassment to the Fatimids. Fatimid apologists tried to explain the failure as part of the divine plan for the god-guided dynasty; the fragmentary Sīrat al-Imām al-Mahdī claims that al-Qa'im returned "undefeated" from Egypt, while the chief Fatimid spokesman later in the century, al-Qadi al-Nu'man, insisted that al-Mahdi, with his divine foreknowledge, knew that his son would be defeated, but that the campaign had been necessary to announce the Fatimids' intentions, prove their zeal in carrying out the jihād, and propagate their daʿwa.[22][23]