Generation Fifteen

53 – Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn the Turk, Abū al-ʿAbbās*
The ruler of Egypt, Abū al-ʿAbbās.

He was born in Sāmarrāʾ, although some say that the amir Ṭūlūn had merely adopted him. Ṭūlūn himself had been presented by the ruler of Transoxiana (1) to the caliph al-Maʾmūn, together with a group of mamluks, in the year 200 AH, and he lived on until 240 AH.

His son Aḥmad excelled in memorizing the Qur’an and in seeking knowledge. Changing circumstances took him from post to post until he came to hold authority: he first governed the Syrian frontier fortresses, then the province of Damascus, and finally became ruler of the Egyptian lands in the year 254 AH, at which time he was forty years old.

He was a valiant, courageous hero—bold, awe-inspiring, politically shrewd, generous, much praised, and among the most astute of kings. It was said that his daily expenditure reached 1,000 dinars, and yet he would always revert to justice.