The Military of the Tulunid Emirate also known as the al-Asakir al-Masria () or al-Askar al-Masri () or al-Jund al-Masri () was the army of the Tulunid dynasty, which ruled Egypt and much of the Levant as vassal rulers of the Abbasid Caliphate, but de facto autonomous, from 868 to 905.
Background
After the fall of the Egyptian Ptolemaic Kingdom and the end of the ancient Egyptian civilization at the hands of the Roman Republic, Egypt became a Roman province until the Islamic conquest of Egypt at the hands of Amr ibn al-As in 642. Egypt was ruled by the Umayyads and Abbasids, most of whom were characterized by their mistreatment of the Egyptians, which resulted in many revolutions, the most famous of which were the Bashmurian revolts, in which the Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, participated because of the imposition of exorbitant taxes and the preference of the Arabs over the Egyptians.
Ahmad ibn Tulun was appointed governor of Egypt by the Abbasids until he gained de facto independence in 868. He minted the Ahmadi dinar as a symbol of this independence.Zayoud, Muhammad Ahmad (1409 AH - 1989 AD). العلاقات بين الشَّام ومصر في العهدين الطولوني والإخشيدي (first edition). Damascus - Syria: Dar Hassan for Printing and Publishing. p. 26. Thus, the Tulunid Egyptian Emirate was declared and Egypt became an independent state for the first time since its fall at the hands of the Romans. The Tulunid Emirate is one of the independent states from the Abbasid state. The Tulunid state represents the first experience of local rule in which a dynasty or state ruled independently of the central government of the Abbasid state.The origin of the Tulunid people and the beginning of the establishment of the Tulunid state - historical narratives | Egyptian History website. Archived copy 7 April 2017 on Wayback Machine website. It was ruled by a number of members of the Tulunid dynasty until the Egyptian Tulunid emirate was ended by the Abbasids.
Establishment Ahmad Ibn Tulun was keen to form the first independent army in Egypt in the Middle Ages, strengthen it, and provide it with equipment. A few years later, the number of its members reached one hundred thousand individuals, armed with various types of weapons known in that era. He created a naval fleet to protect the shores of his country, maintain the path of maritime communication, and establish forts. The army embarked on military campaigns until Egypt's territory expanded and they reached the Levant to consolidate their influence and protect their northern borders. The major cities of the Levant, such as Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, and Antioch, entered their possession, and they continued their advance until the city of Raqqa. The Egyptian army was also the first army to pledge allegiance to its Tulunid masters rather than the Abbasids.Dr. Mahmoud Qamar (2011). الجيش المصري في عهد الدولة الطولونية، ٢٥٤-٢٩٢ هـ/٨٦٨-٩٠٥ م. Ayn for human and social studies and research. pp. 58, 59, 146.
Ahmad Ibn Tulun exaggerated in enlarging the size of his army and strengthening it, motivated by the conspiracies, intrigues, and temptations that were being hatched against him in the capital of the Abbasid state, so its number reached one hundred thousand fighters, as previously mentioned. Ahmad Ibn Tulun controlled this huge army based on a well-thought-out and drawn-up policy. He made his officers from among the Turkics close to him. This army was always ready to carry out what was asked of it, and it occupied its members with hard training and suppressing temptations and conquests. It allowed them to gain wealth and gain prestige, and provided them with comfort. He preferred them over himself, and said that they were related to him like children to fathers.Al-Balawi Al-Madani, Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Umair; Investigation: Muhammad Kurd Ali (1998). سيرة أحمد بن طولون (first edition). Cairo - Egypt: Library of Religious Culture. p. 336. Therefore, he lavished on them generously, and paid their salaries on time.
There was no revolution during his reign that was attributed to the lack of wages, which his contemporaries were accustomed to. Rather, he would sometimes grant a year's salary as a pure grant to them, so that their hands and hearts would be strong.Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, investigation by: Zaki Muhammad Hassan, Shawqi Deif, and Sayyida Kashif (1953). المُغرِّب في حُلى المغرب،, Part One, Section on Egypt (First Edition). Cairo – Egypt: Fouad I University Press. p. 82.
Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun went to extremes in spending on the army in terms of uniforms and weapons. He dressed its members in silk caps and brocade gilets, designed belts for them, and adorned them with decorated swords that they placed on their shoulders. This was in line with the luxury that dominated life in his era, which included almost everything. If they walked in front of him and his convoy he arranged each sect with its uniform and weapons, the al-Mukhtara squad (his private squad) first, then the rest of the military, followed by the Blacks.Ibn Taghribirdi, presented it and commented on it: Muhammad Hussein Shams al-Din (1413 AH - 1992 AD). النجوم الزاهرة في ملوك مصر والقاهرة, Part Three (First Edition). Beirut - Lebanon: Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah. p. 59.
Khumarawayh took care of training his army. He assigned each sect its role in fighting, and he lavishly spent money on its members, giving them more than his father had given them. He would give them their gifts on a regular basis, and distribute gifts to them in abundance on every occasion, in addition to the spoils of war that they took as rewards, which made them loyal to the state and bind them to it with a bond based on mutual interest. The army's expenses amounted to nine hundred thousand dinars annually.Al-Maqrizi (1418 AH), المواعظ والاعتبار في ذكر الخطط والآثار, part 2 (1st edition). Beirut - Lebanon: Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, p. 128.
The status of the army rose as a result of this increased attention, and its soldiers and commanders became a stronger influence than they were in the days of Ahmad Ibn Tulun. Its leaders gained control of the estates, and its sects played a major role in the state's foreign policy, especially in the wars of the Levant and the defense of the emirate. Khumarawayh also took an interest in the naval fleet, and it played an important role in the wars that the Tulunid prince fought in the Levant by supporting land campaigns.
The new Egyptian army fought many battles in which it won glorious victories, the most important of which were the Levantine border (al-Thughur al-Shamia) wars against the Byzantines, the sack of Byzantine Thessaloncia, the Battle of Tawahin against the Abbasids, and the war of Mahammad ibn Ali al-Khalanji to restore the Egyptian Tulunid state.
In the book “The Army in Egypt in the Tulunid and Ikhshidid Era,” its author, Dr. Faten Mahammad al-Bandari, says that the Egyptian army during those two eras was a force to be reckoned with by the Abbasid state and other powers in the Islamic world and outside it. Rather, it was the strongest Islamic armies at the time. To demonstrate this, the author discusses, in extensive detail, the human structure of this army, its military organizations, the arts of mobilization and fighting as it was relied upon, and finally its weapons and supplies. Ahmad Ibn Tulun was allowed to gain independence in Egypt from the Abbasid state, which was preoccupied with suppressing strife and revolutions and the weakening influence of its caliphs.
Hence, the author says that the personality of Ibn Tulun had a great impact on his wise leadership of the Egyptian army, especially given his military and religious upbringing in Tarsus. But creating the first Egyptian Islamic army independent of the Abbasid state was not an easy task at all. To ensure superiority, and to curb the ambitions of the Byzantines in particular, Ibn Tulun had to prepare and mobilize the army in a completely new way. In this regard, Ibn Tulun himself says: “I endured the great burdens and the heavy supplies by attracting everything described with courage and summoning everything described richly... what I had prepared to surround the state from the dense armies and multiplying armies.”
As the author explains, the Egyptian army in that era included Turkic, Maghrebi, Nubian, Rum, Arab, and Egyptian elements, but the heaviest of them were the Egyptians, of whom alone there were about 70,000 soldiers. This is in addition to what historical sources mention that Ibn Tulun used some of his Turkic family and appointed them to leadership positions. The Egyptians also had leadership roles, especially in the last phase of the Tulunid state and then the Ikhshidid state.
Regarding the military organizations during the two states, the author focuses on leadership, recruitment, and the army office. The Tulunids, and after them the Ikhshidids, followed special systems in assuming leadership and carrying out its tasks. The title of “Amir of Jihad” evolved into, in that era, “Army Commander,” “Chief Commander,” “State Manager,” or “Wāli of War.” Leaders were chosen on the basis of possessing qualities and characteristics such as horsemanship, experience, and possessing the characteristics of leadership.
As for soldiers and conscription, the author concludes from historical sources that Ibn Tulun came to Egypt accompanied by soldiers with a high degree of training and loyalty. He used them to defeat his opponents and they were the first nucleus of the new army. As a culmination of this strong beginning, Ibn Tulun recruited huge numbers from the blacks, and then large numbers of all elements joined the Egyptian Tulunid army.
The author says that the Tulunids and Ikhshidids paid great attention to military reconnaissance and gave it their attention. Military mobilization and the preparation of soldiers to fight were at a high level in the two eras, as the army was mobilized into two parts: cavalry and footmen (infantry), and each of them had its role in the fighting. They also took care of military parades, to show the strength and prestige of the army and impose fear of it inside and outside Egypt.
The Egyptian Tulunid and Ikhshidid princes took care of the weapons and equipment used at the time, such as the sword, bow and arrow, spear, pike, catapult, tank, battering ram, ladders, and caltrop, in addition to the safes for weapons, clothing, soldier barracks, supplies, medical and financial supplies, horses and animals, and moral supplies (preachers). When the Ikhshidid state was established in Egypt in 935, it was an extension of the policies of the Tulunid state in managing the army. It was based on controlling it, taking care of its various elements, training them well, and granting them good livelihoods and generous grants.
Composition Ahmad Ibn Tulun's army was 100,000 individuals, divided into 70,000 Egyptians, 25,000 Mamluks (24,000 Turkic and 1,000 blacks), and 7,000 Arab mercenaries. The number of the army increased during the reign of Khumarawayh to 400,000. The number of the Egyptian army during the reign of the Egyptian Prince Mahammad ibn Ali al-Khalanji, after he re-established it after independence again from the Abbasids, was 50 thousand.Sayyda Ismail Kashif (2019), مصر في عصر الإخشيديين. King Fouad I University Press. from page 20 to 23.