Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad ibn Ali ibn al-Ikhshid ( ar, أبو الفوارس أحمد بن علي بن الإخشيد) was the last monarch of the autonomous

Ikhshidid dynasty The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic t ...

, which ruled

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and the

Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...

, from 968 to 969. However, he was a child and did not exercise actual rule, being instead under the tutelage first of the

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

Ja'far ibn al-Furat Abu'l-Fadl Ja'far ibn al-Fadl ibn al-Furat (; 1001), also called Ibn Hinzaba, like his father before him, was a member of the bureaucratic Banu'l-Furat family from Iraq. A highly educated man renowned for his strict piety and knowledge of traditio ...

and then of his uncle

al-Hasan ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj (924/5–982) was an Ikhshidid prince and briefly governor of Palestine and regent for his underage nephew Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad in 968–969. After his departure from Egypt, he assumed control of th ...

. His reign ended with the conquest of Egypt by the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

in summer 969.

Life

Ahmad was the son of the third

Ikhshidid The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic ti ...

ruler,

Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Ikhshid Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Ikhshid ( ar, أبو الحسن علي بن الإخشيد) was the third ruler of the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled Egypt, Syria and the Hejaz for the Abbasid Caliphate. He reigned for six years, between 960- ...

, and grandson of the dynasty's founder,

Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān (8 February 882 – 24 July 946), better known by the title al-Ikhshīd ( ar, الإخشيد) after 939, was an Abbasid commander and governor who beca ...

. When his father Ali died in January 966, he was only ten; consequently, the powerful

Abu'l-Misk Kafur Abu al-Misk Kafur () (905–968), also called al-Laithi, al-Suri, al-Labi was a dominant personality of Ikhshidid Egypt and Syria."Kāfūr, Abu'l Misk al-Ikhsidi." ''E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936''. Edited by: M. Th. Hou ...

, who had long been the virtual ruler of the state, assumed the reins of power himself. Ahmad succeeded to the throne after Kafur's death in April 968, but the situation in Egypt was critical: the

tried to control the government, but lacked a power-base outside the bureaucracy;

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...

agents stirred up trouble among the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

; the army was divided into mutually antagonistic factions (the ''Ikhshidiyya'', recruited by Muhammad al-Ikhshid, the ''Kafuriyya'', recruited by Kafur, and the ''

Saqaliba Saqaliba ( ar, صقالبة, ṣaqāliba, singular ar, صقلبي, ṣaqlabī) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to Slavs and other peoples of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, or in a broad sense to European slaves. The t ...

'' or ''

Rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

'', European/

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

slave-soldiers); and the treasury was empty due to a series of low

Nile floods The flooding of the Nile has been an important natural cycle in Egypt since ancient times. It is celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as ''Wafaa El-Nil''. It is also celebrated in the Coptic Church b ...

that had caused famine. In the end, Ibn al-Furat was overthrown by Ahmad's uncle,

, governor of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Hasan seized control of

Fustat Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by ...

in autumn 968, and installed himself as regent. On the coinage minted during this period, Hasan's name even preceded that of Ahmad, the nominal ruler. However, after only three months, Hasan released Ibn al-Jafar, entrusted him with the governance of Egypt, and returned to Palestine. Soon after, the Fatimids, taking advantage of the turmoil in the Ikhshidid regime, launched an invasion under Jawhar al-Siqilli. By June 969, the Fatimid army stood before Fustat. After the Ikhshidid troops failed in a last-ditch effort to stop the Fatimids, the city, and Egypt with it, surrendered. Hasan was taken prisoner, thus ending the Ikhshidid dynasty, although the last Ikhshidid loyalists under his uncle remained in control of the southern part of Syria until in turn defeated by the Fatimids in spring 970. According to the historian al-Farghani, relayed by

Ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...

, Ahmad died on 13 July 987.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abul-Fawaris Ahmad ibn Ali 10th-century rulers in Asia 10th-century rulers in Africa Ikhshidid emirs Ikhshidids Medieval child rulers