The Ikhshidids are an Egyptian-based dynasty of Sogdian origins, whose founder, a Turkic slave soldier named Muhammad bin Tughj Al-Ikhshid, had been installed in 935 by the Abbasid Caliph, giving him and his descendants the Wilayah for thirty years.

Two years later, he obtains from the 'Abbasid caliph ar-Radi the title ikhshid (Persian: princely title in the area of Osrūshana, which he considers his land of origin), the name he gives to his dynasty, hence the last term in his name.

This title allows him to rule somewhat independently of the Caliphate.

The Middle East: 940–951 CE

Linguistic Transformations and Cultural Shifts

Between 940 and 951 CE, the Middle East experiences a significant linguistic transformation as the flexible word order typical of Middle Iranian languages gradually evolves into the more structured and rigid syntax characteristic of Modern Iranian languages. This linguistic shift underscores broader cultural changes across the Iranian-speaking regions.

Such a linguistic transition reflects deeper cultural realignments and adaptations, influenced by ongoing interactions with neighboring Arab, Turkic, and Kurdish communities. As languages stabilize and diversify, they simultaneously reinforce ethnic identities and facilitate clearer administrative, literary, and scholarly communications.

The crystallization of these modern linguistic structures during this era sets the stage for subsequent literary and intellectual flowering, profoundly influencing regional identity and cultural development for generations to come.

Muhammad bin Tughj, founder of the Ikhshidid dynasty of Egypt, had purchased Abu al-Misk Kafur as a slave in 923 and, recognizing the enslaved man's potential, had made him a tutor to his children and a military officer.

Ultimately, al-Misk has gained so much power that he is able to succeeded bin Tughj.

Sayf takes Damascus in 947 after two unsuccessful attempts.

He now marches his army toward Egypt.

The Hamdanids, after scoring initial victories against the invaders, are occupied with blocking incursions by imperial forces in the north, and are thus compelled to cede central and southern Syria to the Ikhshidites in 948.

A peace treaty is negotiated between Sayf ad-Dawlah and the Ikhshidids.

Hereafter Sayf's, most important concern will be with the Eastern Roman Empire.

Sayf al-Dawla captures Ramla from the Ikshidids, but is unable to make further progress.

Al-Mutanabbi had joined the court of Abu al-Misk Kafur after parting ways with Saif al Dawla, but Kafur had dismissed Al-Mutanabbi's intentions, claiming them to be a threat to his position.

Realizing that his hopes of becoming a statesman will not materialize, Al-Mutanabbi keaves Egypt in about 960, afterward heavily criticizes Abu al-Misk Kafur with satirical odes.

Al-Mutanabbi, the son of a water carrier who claimed noble and ancient southern Arabian descent, had, owing to his poetic talent, received an education.

When Shi'ite Qarmatians sacked Al-Kufah in 924, he had joined them and lived among the Bedouin, learning their doctrines and Arabic.

Claiming to be a prophet—hence the name al-Mutanabbi (“The Would-be Prophet”)—he led a Qarmatian revolt in Syria in 932.

After its suppression and two years' imprisonment, he recanted in 935 and became a wandering poet.

Beginning to write panegyrics in the tradition established by the ninth-century poets Abu Tammam and al-Buhturi, he had attached himself to Sayf ad-Dawla, the Hamdanid poet-prince of northern Syria, writing in praise of his patron panegyrics that rank as masterpieces of Arabic poetry.

Sayf ad-Dawla had bestowed fame and fortune on him during their association but the latter part of the period had been clouded with intrigues and jealousies that culminated in al-Mutanabbi's leaving Syria for Egypt, now ruled in name by the Ikhshidids.

Attaching himself to the regent, the black eunuch Abu al-Misk Kafur, who had been born into slavery, al-Mutanabbi offended Kafur with scurrilous satirical poems and fled Egypt in 960.

He had lived in Shiraz, Iran, under the protection of the emir 'Adud ad-Dawla of the Buyid dynasty until 965, when he returns to Iraq and is killed by bandits near Dayr al-'Aqulin, a suburb of Baghdad, in 965.

Al-Mutanabbi's pride and arrogance had set the tone for much of his verse, which is ornately rhetorical, yet crafted with consummate skill and artistry.

He has given to the traditional qasida, or ode, a freer and more personal development, writing in what can be called a neoclassical style.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest poets in the Arabic language, his work will influence Arabic poetry until the nineteenth century and will be widely quoted.)

The Fatimids having secured their western borders, the way to Egypt is now clear the more so given the state of crisis that the incumbent Ikhshidid dynasty now finds itself in and the inability of the Abbasids to counterattack.

As early as 966, al-Mu'izz had prepared a fresh invasion of Egypt, but it had reportedly been delayed at the request of his mother, who wished to make a pilgrimage to Mecca first.

Her honorable treatment by the local ruler, the vizier Abu al-Misk Kafur, when she passed through Egypt had induced the caliph to postpone the invasion until after Kafur's death.