أحمد بن طولون
As its "nisba" shows, the family hailed from the village of Madharaya near Wasit in lower Iraq. The first member to rise to prominence was Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Madhara'i, who in 879 was named controller of finances by the autonomous ruler of Egypt and Syria, Ahmad ibn Tulun (reigned 868–884), a post he kept until his death in 884. He named his sons Ali and Abu Ali al-Husayn as his representatives in Egypt and Syria respectively. Ali succeeded his father and became vizier under Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun (r. 884–896) and during the brief reign of Jaysh ibn Khumarawayh, along with whom he was murdered in 896. He was in turn succeeded as fiscal director by his son Abu'l-Tayyib Ahmad (died 915), while another son, Abu Bakr Muhammad served as vizier to the penultimate Tulunid ruler, Harun ibn Khumarawayh (r. 896–904).