IKHSHIDIDS DYNASTY

Muslim Turkish dynasty from Fergana in Central Asia that ruled Egypt and Syria from 935 to 969. The founder, Muhammad ibn Tughj, appointed governor of Egypt in 935, two years later obtained the title ikhshid (Persian: prince, ruler) from the 'Abbasid caliph ar-Radi; he then secured his position in Egypt and Syria against opposition from Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, 'Abbasid amir al-umara' (commander in chief), and the Hamdanid Sayf ad-Dawlah of Aleppo. From 946 until 968, real governmental power rested in the hands of the vizier, Abu al-Misk Kafur, though Ibn Tughj's sons Unujur and 'Ali remained nominal rulers. Kafur, originally a black slave from either Ethiopia or the Sudan, successfully restrained Fatimid and Hamdanid intrusions into his territories; he also patronized learning and the arts, briefly boasting the presence of the eminent poet al-Mutanabbi in his court. In 969 the Fatimids overthrew the last of the Ikhshidid rulers, a boy named Abu al-Fawaris Ahmad, grandson of the founder, while the Hamdanids drove the Ikhshidi governors from northern Syria.