Ahmad ibn Tulun (835–884)
Born 835 CE, died 884 CE.
Ahmad ibn Tulun (Arabic: أحمد بن طولون, romanized: Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn; c. 20 September 835 – 10 May 884) was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. An Arabized Turkic slave-soldier, in 868 Ibn Tulun was sent to Egypt as governor by the Abbasid caliph. Within four years he had established himself as a virtually independent ruler by evicting the caliphal fiscal agent, Ibn al-Mudabbir, taking over control of Egypt's finances, and establishing a large military force consisting of native Egyptians personally loyal to himself. This process was facilitated by the volatile political situation in the Abbasid court and the preoccupation of the Abbasid regent, al-Muwaffaq, with the wars against the Persian Saffarids and the Zanj Rebellion. Ibn Tulun also established an efficient administration in Egypt. After reforms to the tax system, repairs to the irrigation system, and other measures, the annual tax yield grew markedly. As a symbol of his new regime, he built a new capital, al-Qata'i, north of the old capital Fustat. After 875/6 he entered into open conflict with al-Muwaffaq, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat him.
Text from the Wikipedia article Ahmad_ibn_Tulun, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.