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Ahmad ibn Tulun

أحمد بن طولون

The commander; al-Mu'tazz sent him to kill al-Musta'in and he answered 'by God, I do not kill the sons of caliphs' 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Overview

Ahmad ibn Tulun, a ruler who governed Egypt. The sources mention him in the events of the Abbasid caliphate. 2

With al-Musta'in

The "History of the Caliphs" says that al-Mu'tazz sent to him to go to al-Musta'in and kill him. He said: "By God, I will not kill the sons of the caliphs." 3

Al-Mas'udi says he was assigned to guard al-Musta'in when he was brought down to Wasit, before his governorship of Egypt. 4

Ibn al-Jawzi says that he accompanied al-Musta'in and treated him well, and that he refused to kill him. After the killing he washed and shrouded the body and buried it. Ibn al-Jawzi relates from him that he said God had compensated him for the governorship of Wasit with the governorship of Egypt and Syria. 5

Death

Al-Mas'udi says he died in Egypt on Saturday, ten days into Dhu al-Qa'da 270 AH, at the age of sixty-five. His rule lasted seventeen years. When he despaired of himself, he gave the allegiance to his son Abu al-Jaysh Khumarawayh as his successor. 2

Ibn al-Jawzi relates reports about his spending on the mosque and his almsgiving, and that he left much wealth. His figures are numerous and need to be compared with a second source. 5

Connections

Explore the connections

Founder of
Tulunid dynasty
Participated in
Ibn Kundaj intercepts al-Mu'tamid and confines him, 269

People and things also explored

Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq· al-Mu'tamid ala Allah· إسحاق بن كنداج· Ibn Kundaj intercepts al-Mu'tamid and confines him, 269· Tulunid dynasty

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 556
  2. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p.579
  3. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.556
  4. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p.545
  5. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.5 p.76-77
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ahmad ibn Tulun”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ahmad-ibn-tulun/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.

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People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq

Brother of the caliph al-Mu'tamid. Al-Tabari records his departure from al-Jabal for Iraq, his illness with gout, and his death on a Wednesday, eight days before the end of Safar 278. According to al-Suyuti, his brother al-Mu'tazz invested him with the robe of kingship, crowned him with a gold crown and a jewelled cap, gave him two shawls and girded him with two swords; in the same year he removed him from office and exiled him to Wasit. Also according to al-Suyuti, his brother al-Mu'tamid placed him in charge of the east, and he commanded the army in most of the engagements against the Zanj; when the leader of the Zanj was killed, the people cried out prayers for al-Muwaffaq and poets praised him. In 269 al-Mu'tamid summoned him back from the direction of Damascus and placed him under restraint; he was given the titles Ibn Kundaj, Dhu al-Sayfayn, and Sa'idan, Dhu al-Wizaratayn, and al-Mu'tamid ordered Ibn Tulun to be cursed from the pulpits. He died in 278, and al-Mu'tamid was relieved of him. According to al-Mas'udi, when al-Musta'in was deposed he went from Baghdad to Samarra, where al-Mu'tazz invested him, put a robe on him, gave him two shawls and clothed his commanders. According to al-Mas'udi, al-Mu'tazz imprisoned him with his brother al-Mu'ayyad, then tightened his confinement and sent him to Basra thirteen nights before the end of Ramadan 252; between his honour and his imprisonment there were six months and three days. According to al-Mas'udi, al-Mu'tamid invested him and Mufallih at the start of Rabi' I 258 and sent them against the leader of the Zanj; he met Ya'qub al-Saffar at Sayb Bani Kuma in 262. According to Ibn al-Jawzi, the gout grew so severe that he could not ride, so he had a domed litter made to sit in, with an attendant who cooled his feet with cold things until ice was applied to them; his leg became elephantiasis. Forty porters carried his litter, twenty at a time in turns. When the pain grew he would order them to set him down and say: 'You are weary of me, and I wish I were one of you, carrying a load on my head and eating in good health.' He also said: 'My register covers a hundred thousand men, yet none of them is in a worse state than I am.' He died in the Qasr al-Hasani on the night of Thursday, eight days before the end of Safar 278, aged forty-seven years less a month and some days. Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz wrote a letter of condolence: 'I console you with al-Mansur the second, for I know of no one among his descendants more like him.' In his war against the Zanj he sent their leader a letter calling him to repent and return to God from the shedding of blood, the violation of what is sacred, the ruin of lands, and the claim to a prophethood and messengership that God had not made him fit for, and to give up his course and join the community of Muslims. When the letter reached him it only increased his aversion and obstinacy, and he did not reply. He encamped in the city he named al-Muwaffaqiyya, sent merchants to it, built its congregational mosque, and set up mints there where dinars and dirhams were struck.