Ahmad ibn Tulun
As its "nisba" shows, the family hailed from the village of Madharaya near Wasit in lower Iraq. Ali was a son of the founder of the family's fortunes, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Madhara'i. Educated in the traditions of the Abbasid bureaucracy at Samarra, Ali and his sons moved to Egypt, where in 879 Ahmad was appointed director of finances ("‘āmil") by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the autonomous ruler of Egypt and later Syria. Ahmad held his post until his death in 884, and appointed Ali and his brother al-Husayn as his representatives in Egypt and Syria respectively. Ali succeeded his father in 884, serving as vizier to the new Tulunid ruler, Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, throughout the latter's reign (884–896). He continued in the post under Khumarawayh's underage successor, Jaysh ibn Khumarawayh, and was murdered on the same day as he in 897.