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The Tulunid dynasty (r. 868-905 CE) was founded by Ahmad b. Tulun, a Turkish soldier who became the governor of Egypt and Syria under the Abbasid caliphate, and who managed, as governor, to achieve a great degree of autonomy from Baghdad.
In 870 Ibn Tulun founded the new quarter of al-Qata'i' (Arabic "wards" or "allotments") outside the town of Fustat, which eventually came to be absorbed into the city of Cairo. There Ibn Tulun founded a palace, which his successors enlarged, and the famous mosque that still bears his name. The size of the mosque, its hypostyle plan and courtyard, the enclosing precinct (ziyadas) which provide a buffer between the mosque and the noisy city, its fired-brick construction and carved stucco revetment all illustrate the Tulunid's connection to Abbasid Iraq.
Sources:
Berchem, Max van. 1978. Notes d'archéologie arabe II. Toulounides et Fatimites. Opera Minora I Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 203-33.
Bosworth, C.E. 1996. " The Tulunids."In The New Islamic Dynasties. New York: Columbia UP, 60-61.
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