Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming Matthew Gordon and Eugénie Rébillard for an informal gathering to discuss the agents of fiscal administration and the Egyptian economy during the second half of the ninth century. This visit prompted me (PostDoc Noëmie Lucas) to delve deeper into the aṣḥāb al-kharāj of this period. Given M. Gordon’s expertise on Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn and the Tulunid era, I decided to focus particularly on this time.

One of the pivotal moments in Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn’s early rule in Egypt was his assertion of control over the province’s finances, which solidified his authority. To achieve this, he sidelined the ṣāḥib al-kharāj, Ibn al-Mudabbir. Their confrontation is a central theme in the narrative sources of the period, and M. Gordon has analyzed it, notably in his biography of Ibn Ṭūlūn (2021). Suffice it to say here that Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn removed Ibn al-Mudabbir from office around 868–869, subsequently imprisoning him (Gordon, 2021, 35).

In his book Les Tulunides, Zaky Mohamed Hassan (1933) mentions that Ibn al-Mudabbir was briefly replaced by Muḥammad b. Hilāl before returning to his position as head of the fiscal administration following the assassination of Caliph al-Muhtadī in 256/870 and the rise of al-Muʿtamid. Hassan notes that “Sa présence en Égypte est attestée par une étoffe du Musée Arabe du Caire,” referencing Répertoire chronologique d’épigraphie arabe, tome II, no. 614, p. 151. This source describes a cloth fragment bearing an inscription mentioning Muḥammad b. Hilāl. (For more details on this inscription, see Thesaurus d’épigraphie islamique.)

While the transcription includes the name of Muḥammad b. Hilāl, the exact date is partially reconstructed, leaving some uncertainty about the year 256. Unfortunately, as far as I know, no image of the cloth fragment is available to verify this transcription. However, I found a tax receipt on document that mentions Muḥammad b. Hilāl and is dated to 255/868–869. This document provides further evidence of his activity as ṣāḥib al-kharāj during this time in Egypt.

P.Philad.11. Object [E16421)]. Courtesy of the Penn Museum

This tax receipt (P.Philad.11) is part of the collection edited by Levi Della Vida in Arabic Papyri in the University Museum in Philadelphia (Rome, 1981). Werner Diem later revised this edition in his article “Philologisches zu arabischen Steuerquittungen aus Ägypten (8-11. Jahrhundert),” published in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 2006, 96, pp. 55–111 (see p. 70). The tax receipt, resembling others from the same period, records the names of officials. In Della Vida’s edition, with Diem’s emendations, we find the following sequence:

Ilā ʿĪsā b. (5) ʿAlī al-Qusṭāl bi-ḥadarati khalīfati Ishaq b. (6) Ibrahīm ʿāmil Abī l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. (7) Mahdī ʿazzahu allāhu li-kharāj sana khamsa wa-khamsina wa-miʾatayni

Upon examining the image of the document and comparing it with other documents that reflect how scribes write Mahdī and Hilāl, I argue that the name should be read as  Muḥammad b. Hilāl, rather than Muḥammad b. Mahdī. His position in the list of officials, along with the honorific phrase, suggests he was the highest-ranking official, aligning with narrative sources on the early Tulunid period.

Arabic documents are cited according to “The Checklist of Arabic Documents”.

Banner image: Panel, Tulunid period, Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities (Medelhavsmuseet), NM 0090/1935 @Discover Islamic Art (MWNF) [https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;3;en&cp]

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