the independent ruler of Egypt, founding the Tulunid dynasty.

Ibn Tulun
kept Egypts tax revenues in Egypt, rather than sending them to the
caliph in Baghdad. This enabled him to build Egypt into an autonomous
state that could compete for power against Iraq. His improvement of the
Nile irrigation works increased his tax revenues, which enabled him to
support a huge army. Tulunid control extended eastward into Syria (and
sometimes parts of Iraq) and westward into Libya. Ibn Tulun never realized
his dream of moving the Abbasid caliphate to Egypt, but he used
some of his revenues to build palaces, hospitals for men and for women,
and the great mosque north of Fustat that bears his name. Ibn Tuluns
son succeeded him as ruler of Egypt, but he and his heirs wasted their
inheritance, spending and drinking recklessly. The Abbasids regained
their power as a dynasty and retook Egypt in 905.
For the next 30 years Egypt suffered riots and invasions under successive
Abbasid-appointed governors. Then, in 935, Muhammad Ibn
Tughj was installed as governor. He took the honorifi c title ikhshid, a
Persian word meaning prince. The Ikhshid ruled Egypt, Syria, and
most of the major land and sea routes for a decade. He was succeeded
by his sons, but effective power was held by an Ethiopian offi cer named
Kafur, a former slave who was named regent for Muhammad ibn Tughjs
young heirs. After both of the Ikhshids sons died, Kafur took the surname
al-Ikhshid and ruled in his own name. Between 963 and 969 a
series of low Nile fl oods disrupted the crops and brought famine to
Egypt; as a result the Egyptian people looked to the western part of the
Muslim world for relief.

Fatimid Rule (9691171)

Help came from the Fatimid dynasty in what is now Tunisia. The