The al-Madhara'i ( ar, الماذرائيون) were a family of officials from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

who served as and virtually monopolized the posts of director of finances (''‘āmil'') 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, the

Abbasid Caliphate 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 ...

, and the

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 ...

, between 879 and 946. In this role, they amassed "one of the largest personal fortunes in the medieval Arab east" (

Thierry Bianquis Thierry Bianquis (3 August 1935 – 2 September 2014) was a French Orientalist and Arabist. His main interest was the medieval Islamic Middle East, most notably the Fatimid era of Egypt and Syria, which was the subject of his dissertation. Born i ...

). As its ''

nisba The Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **comparatively, in Afro-Asiatic: see Afroasiatic_lang ...

'' shows, the family hailed from the village of Madharaya near

Wasit Wasit ( ar, وَاسِط, Wāsiṭ, syr, ‎ܘܐܣܛ) is an ancient city in Wasit Governorate, south east of Kut in eastern Iraq. History The city was built by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in c. 702 CE on the west bank of the Tigris across from the hist ...

in lower

. The first member to rise to prominence was Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Madhara'i, who in 879 was named controller of finances by the autonomous ruler of

and

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 ...

(reigned 868–884), a post he kept until his death in 884. He named his sons

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

and Abu Ali al-Husayn as his representatives in Egypt and Syria respectively. Ali succeeded his father and 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 ...

under

Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun Abu 'l-Jaysh Khumārawayh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn ( ar, أبو الجيش خمارويه بن أحمد بن طولون; 864 – 18 January 896) was a son of the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, Ahmad ibn Tulun. His father, the autonomous ruler ...

(r. 884–896) and during the brief reign of

Jaysh ibn Khumarawayh Abu 'l-Asakir Jaysh ibn Khumarawayh ( ar, أبو العساكر جيش بن خمارويه; born c. 882) was the third Emir of the Tulunids in Egypt in the Middle Ages, Egypt, ruling briefly in 896. The eldest son of Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tul ...

, along with whom he was murdered in 896. He was in turn succeeded as fiscal director by his son Abu'l-Tayyib Ahmad (died 915), while another son,

Abu Bakr Muhammad Abu Bakr Muhammad (died 941) was the first Muhtajid ruler of Chaghaniyan (until 939) and governor of Samanid Khurasan (933–939). He was the son of Muzaffar ibn Muhtaj. Origins The origin of the Muhtajids is unknown. The name has been ...

served as

to the penultimate Tulunid ruler,

Harun ibn Khumarawayh Harun ibn Khumarawayh ( ar, هارون بن خمارويه; died 30 December 904) was the fourth Tulunid Emir of Egypt (896–904). He succeeded his elder brother Abu 'l-Asakir Jaysh, who had been murdered by army chiefs. He left state affairs to ...

(r. 896–904). Following the end of the Tulunid dynasty and the re-imposition of direct

Abbasid 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 ...

control over their domains in 904–5, many of the family and its followers were deported to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, but al-Husayn, who had maintained contacts with the Abbasid court, was appointed in charge of the Egyptian finances. The family now became involved in factional struggles between the leading bureaucratic factions in Baghdad, siding with the opposition to the

Banu'l-Furat The Banu'l-Furat () were a Shia family of civil functionaries of the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, several of whom held the office of vizier. In the sources, the members of the family are often simply designated as Ibn ...

clan. Its fortunes fluctuated as a result. In 913, al-Husayn was moved once more to Syria, while his nephew Abu Bakr Muhammad took over in Egypt, but both were dismissed in 917. Al-Husayn again served as financial director of Egypt in 919–922, and for a third and final time (along with Syria) from 926 until his death in 929. The last important representative of the family, al-Husayn's nephew Abu Bakr Muhammad, took over the direction of Egyptian finances in 930–933, under the governorship of his friend

Takin al-Khazari The takin (''Budorcas taxicolor''; ), also called cattle chamois or gnu goat, is a large species of ungulate of the subfamily Caprinae found in the eastern Himalayas. It includes four subspecies: the Mishmi takin (''B. t. taxicolor''), the golde ...

. In 936 he tried without success to oppose the takeover of Egypt by

Muhammad ibn Tughj 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 becam ...

, and was imprisoned. Released in 939, he played a leading role in the governance of the new

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 ...

state until his dismissal in 946, after Ibn Tughj's death. He retired into private life, and died in 957.

References

Sources

* * {{EI2 , volume = 5 , title = al-Mād̲h̲arāʾī , first = H. L. , last = Gottschalk , authorlink = , page = 953 , url = https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4729 People of the Tulunid dynasty