Abu'l-Tayyib Ahmad ibn Ali al-Madhara'i (died 915) was a member of the bureaucratic

al-Madhara'i The al-Madhara'i ( ar, الماذرائيون) were a family of officials from Iraq who served as and virtually monopolized the posts of director of finances (''‘āmil'') of Egypt and Syria for the Tulunid dynasty, the Abbasid Caliphate, and the I ...

dynasty of fiscal officials, and served as director of finances of

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 ...

for the

Tulunid dynasty The Tulunids (), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority ...

during its last decades.

Life

Ahmad was a son of

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Madhara'i Ali ibn Ahmad al-Madhara'i (died 897) was a member of the al-Madhara'i family of fiscal bureaucrats, serving as director of finances and vizier under the Tulunids of Egypt. As its ''nisba'' shows, the family hailed from the village of Madharaya nea ...

and grandson of the family's founder, Abu Bakr Ahmad. Abu Bakr had been named controller of finances by the autonomous ruler of

and

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 ...

Ahmad ibn Tulun Ahmad ibn Tulun ( ar, أحمد بن طولون, translit=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. Originally a Turkic slave-soldier, in 868 ...

, and had in turn named Ali as his representative in Egypt and another son,

al-Husayn Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...

, as his representative in Syria. After Abu Bakr died in 884, Ali became

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 ...

of the

Tulunid The Tulunids (), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt in the Middle Ages, Egypt, as well as much of Bilad al-Sham, Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent f ...

domains until his murder in 896. Ahmad succeeded his father as fiscal director of Egypt, while his uncle al-Husayn held the analogous post in Syria, until the end of the Tulunid dynasty in 904–5. Ahmad's brother

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

became vizier in their father's place in 896–904. After the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

re-established direct control over the former Tulunid domains in 904–5, Ahmad was replaced in Egypt by his uncle al-Husayn. He died in 915.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad Ibn Ali Al-Madhara'i 9th-century births 915 deaths Al-Madhara'i family Tulunid officials