Map – Ikhshidids (935 – 969 CE)

TIME PERIOD: 935 – 969 CE

“In the year 935 a new independent dynasty was founded in Egypt by Muhammad ibn-Tughj (935-946 A.D.), a Turk who had been granted the ancient Persian princely title Ikhshid by the Abbasid caliph in 939. The new dynasty took its name from this title. Following in the footsteps of the Tulunids, Muhammad the Ikhshid made himself independent in Egypt and within a short time controlled not only Syria and Palestine but even Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities of Islam.”

Moshe Sharon, “The History of Palestine from the Arab Conquest until the Crusades (633-1099),” A History of Israel and the Holy Land, p. 227, The Continuum Publishing Group Inc., 2001

“The Ikhshidid dynasty (935-969), like its predecessor the Tulunid (868-905), had an ephemeral existence. They followed the same pattern of behavior, the patter that typifies the case of many other states which, in this period of disintegration, broke off from the imperial government. Both made lavish use of state moneys to curry favor with their subjects and thereby ruined the treasuries.”

Philip K. Hitti, History of Syria, p. 564, Macmillan & Co. LTD. 1951

“A series of preparatory incursions into Egypt, which had gravely deteriorated under the rule of the Ikhshids, paved the way for a decisive attack, led by the Fatimid general Jawhar, in 969. Egypt was conquered easily and the Fatimid forces, sustaining the momentum of the attack, went on to take Syria and Palestine.”

Moshe Sharon, “The History of Palestine from the Arab Conquest until the Crusades (633-1099),” A History of Israel and the Holy Land, p. 231, The Continuum Publishing Group Inc., 2001

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