Tulunids

Map of the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 9th and 10th centuries

The rise and fall of the Tulunids occurred against a backdrop of increasing regionalism in the Muslim world. The Abbasid caliphate was struggling with political disturbances and losing its aura of universal legitimacy. There had previously been Coptic and Shia Alid-led movements in Egypt and Baghdad, without more than temporary and local success. There was also a struggle for power between the Turkish military command and the administration of Baghdad. Furthermore, there was a widening imperial financial crisis. All of these themes would recur during the Tulunid rule.[4]

The internal politics of the Abbasid caliphate itself seem to have been unstable. In 870, Abū Aḥmad (b. al-Mutawakkil) al-Muwaffaḳ (d. 891) was summoned from exile in Mecca to re-establish Abbasid authority over southern Iraq. Quickly, however, he became the de facto ruler of the caliphate. As a result of this uncertainty, Ahmad ibn Tulun could establish and expand his authority. Thus the Tulunids wielded regional power, largely unhindered by imperial will; as such, the Tulunids can be compared with other 9th-century dynasties of the Muslim world, including the Aghlabids and the Tahirids.[4]

Khumārawayh

Extent of the Tulunid domains under Khumarawayh, in 893

Following his father's death, Khumārawayh took control as the designated heir. The first challenge he faced was the invasion of Syria by armies sent by al-Muwaffak, the de facto ruler during the reign of caliph al-Mu'tamid. Khumārawayh also had to deal with the defection of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wasiti, a long-time and key ally of his father's, to the invaders' camp.[4]

The young Tulunid achieved political and military gains, enabling him to extend his authority from Egypt into northern Iraq, and as far north as Tarsus by 890. Being now a prominent player in the Near Eastern political stage, he negotiated two treaties with the Abbasids. In the first treaty in 886, al-Muwaffak recognized Tulunid authority over Egypt and the regions of Syria for a thirty-year period. The second treaty, reached with al-Muʿtadid in 892, confirmed the terms of the earlier accord. Both treaties also sought to confirm the status of the Tulunid governor as a vassal of the caliphal family seated in Baghdad.[4]

Despite his gains, Khumārawayh's reign also set the stage for the demise of the dynasty. Financial exhaustion, political infighting and strides by the Abbasids would all contribute to the ruin of the Tulunids.[4] Khumārawayh was also totally reliant on his Turkish and sub-Saharan soldiers. Under the administration of Khumārawayh, the Syro-Egyptian state's finances and military were destabilized.[3]

Minaret of Ibn-Tulun Mosque, the largest remaining building from the Tulunid period today.

Ahmad ibn Tulun founded his own capital, al-Qatā'i, north of the previous capital Fustat, where he seated his government. One of the dominant features of this city, and indeed the feature that survives today, was the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. The mosque is built in a Samarran style that was common in the period during which the caliphate had shifted capitals from Baghdad to Samarra. This style of architecture was not just confined to religious buildings, but secular ones also. Surviving houses of the Tulunid period have Samarran-style stucco panels.[7]

Ḵh̲umārawayh's reign exceeded his father's in spending. He built luxuriant palaces and gardens for himself and those he favored. To the Tulunid Egyptians, his "marvellous" blue-eyed palace lion exemplified his prodigality. His stables were so extensive that, according to popular lore, Khumarawaih never rode a horse more than once. Though he squandered the dynastic wealth, he also encouraged a rich cultural life with patronage of scholarship and poetry. His protégé and the teacher of his sons was the famed grammarian Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Muslim (d. 944). An encomium was written by Ḳāsim b . Yaḥyā al-Maryamī (d. 929) to celebrate Khumarawaih's triumphs on the battlefield.[8]

Through the mediation of his closest adviser, al-Ḥusayn ibn Jaṣṣāṣ al-Jawharī, Khumārawayh arranged for one of the great political marriages of medieval Islamic history. He proposed his daughter's marriage to a member of the caliphal family in Baghdad. The marriage between the Tulunid princess Ḳaṭr al-Nadā with the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tadid took place in 892. The exorbitant marriage included an awesome dowry estimated at between 400,000 and one million dinars. Some speculate that the splendours of the wedding were a calculated attempt by the Abbasids to ruin the Tulunids. The tale of the splendid nuptials of Ḳaṭr al-Nadā lived on in the memory of the Egyptian people well into the Ottoman period, and were recorded in the chronicles and the folk-literature.[8] The marriage's importance arises from its exceptional nature: the phenomenon of marriage between royal families is rare in Islamic history.[9] The concept of dowry given by the bride's family has also been absent in Islamic marriages, where mahr, or bride price has been the custom.[10]

Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn's support to Sunni scholars also allowed for the development in Egypt of Islamic sciences, especially hadith transmission, which contributed to the Islamization of the hinterland.[11]

During his reign, Ibn Tulun created a Tulunid army and navy. The need for the establishment of an autonomous armed force became apparent after the revolt of ʿĪsā ibn al-Shaykkh, governor of Palestine, in 870. In response, Ibn Tulun organized an army composed of Sudanese and Greek slave-soldiers. Other reports indicate the soldiers may have been Persians and Sudanese.[4] Ḵh̲umārawayh continued his father's policy of having a multi-ethnic army. His military prowess, in fact, was strengthened by his multi-ethnic regiments of black Sudanese soldiers, Greek mercenaries and fresh Turkic troops from Turkestan.[8]

Ibn Tulun founded an élite guard to surround the Tulunid family. These formed the core of the Tulunid army, around which other larger regiments were built. These troops are said to have been from the region of Ghūr in Afghanistan, during Ibn Tulun's reign, and from local Arabs during the reign of Ḵh̲umārawayh. In a ceremony held in 871, Ibn Tulun had his forces swear personal allegiance to him. Nevertheless, there were defections from the Tulunid army, most notably of the high-ranking commander Luʾluʾ in 883 to the Abbasids. Throughout its life the army faced such persistent problems of securing allegiance.[4]

Khumārawayh also established an elite corps called al-mukhtāra. The corps was composed of unruly bedouins of the eastern Nile delta. By bestowing privileges upon the tribesmen, and converting them into an efficient and loyal bodyguard, he brought peace to the region between Egypt and Syria. He also re-asserted his control over this strategic region. The regiment also included one thousand Sudanese natives.[8]

A list of military engagements in which the Tulunid army constituted a significant party is as follows:

• In 877, the Tulunid troops, after displaying their strength, forced the Abbasid army under Mūsā ibn Bug̲h̲ā to abandon his plan to depose Ahmad ibn Tulun.[12]
• In 878, the Tulunids, under the pretext of a jihad to defend the frontier districts (Thughur) against the Byzantines, occupied Syria. This campaign was ended prematurely, as Ibn Tulun had to return to Egypt.
• In 885, the Tulunid army led by Khumarawayh met the invading Abbasids at the Battle of the Mills (al-Ṭawāḥīn) in southern Palestine. The Abbasids, led by Aḥmad ibn al-Muwaffaḳ (the future Caliph al-Mu'tadid), had invaded Syria, and the governor of Damascus had defected to the enemy. After both Ahmad and Khumarawayh fled the battlefield, the Ṭūlūnid general Saʿd al-Aysar secured victory.[8]
• From 885–886, the Tulunid forces, led by Khumarawayh, defeated Ibn Kundād̲j, though the latter had superior numbers. A domino effect followed, as the Jazira, Cilicia and regions as far east as Harran submitted to the Tulunid army. Peace treaties with the Tulunids put an end to the military campaigns.[8]
• From 896 to 905, after the emirate's demise the Tulunids were unable to stop the Abbasids from taking their capital al-Qata'i.[8]

During the reign of Ahmad ibn Tulun, the Egyptian economy remained prosperous. There were propitious levels of agricultural production, stimulated by consistent high flooding of the Nile. Other industries, particularly textiles, also thrived. In his administration, ibn Tulun asserted his autonomy, refusing to pay taxes to the central Abbasid government in Baghdad. He also reformed the administration, aligning himself with the merchant community, and changing the taxation system. Under the Tulunids, there were also repairs in the agricultural infrastructure. The key sector of production, investment, and participation in their Mediterranean-wide commerce, was textiles, linen in particular (Frantz, 281-5).[4] The financial bureaucracy throughout the Tulunid period was headed by members of the al-Madhara'i family.

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• Rapoport, Yossef. "Matrimonial Gifts in Early Islamic Egypt," Islamic Law and Society, 7 (1): 1-36, 2000.
• Tillier, Mathieu (présenté, traduit et annoté par). Vies des cadis de Miṣr (257/851-366/976). Extrait du Rafʿ al-iṣr ʿan quḍāt Miṣr d’Ibn Ḥağar al-ʿAsqalānī, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale (Cahier des Annales Islamologiques, 24), Cairo, 2002. ISBN 2-7247-0327-8
• Tillier, Mathieu. « The Qāḍīs of Fusṭāṭ–Miṣr under the Ṭūlūnids and the Ikhshīdids: the Judiciary and Egyptian Autonomy », Journal of the American Oriental Society, 131 (2011), 207–222. Online: https://web.archive.org/web/20111219040853/http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/IFPO/halshs-00641964/fr/