[1] Nevertheless, Akhu Muslim apparently possessed some military ability, as he was entrusted by the Ikhshidid ruler Abu'l-Misk Kafur with command of an army sent to protect the Hajj pilgrimage of 965 from attacks by the Bedouin tribe of the Banu Sulaym in Syria.
[7] Although not entirely successful in his mission—the constant Bedouin and Qarmatian raids on the overland Hajj caravans and the inability of the Ikhshidid regime to stop them led to their temporary cessation after 965[8]—a few months before his death in April 968, Kafur appointed Akhu Muslim as governor of Palestine.
[12] According to the 15th-century historian Idris Imad al-Din, Akhu Muslim led the Fatimid expedition against Byzantine-held Antioch in 970, which was abandoned after the defeat at the Battle of Alexandretta.
[20][21] While the main Qarmatian army under al-A'sam occupied the Nile Delta, Akhu Muslim led a smaller force south, bypassed the Fatimid capital Cairo, and encamped between Asyut and Akhmim.
[22] Akhu Muslim's appearance in Egypt upset the hitherto rather amicable relations between the Fatimid dynasty and the ashraf families, as a number of ahsraf, especially younger sons, began to flock to his banner.
[5] After an arduous journey, narrated in detail by al-Maqrizi, Akhu Muslim managed to cross Egypt and made for the Hejaz, where evidently hoped to find shelter with his brother-in-law.
[5] When he landed at the port of Aynuna, he was again nearly captured by a Fatimid patrol: the soldiers seized his coat, but he cut it with his sword and managed to escape the pursuit thanks to the speed of his horse.
[5] He settled in the great mosque of Medina for a while, until notices for his arrest were put up across the city; he then moved on, making for al-Ahsa, the capital of the Qarmatian state of Bahrayn.
He was betrayed by his erstwhile allies, however: threatened by the Buyids, the Qarmatians had opened negotiations with the Fatimids, and as a token of good faith, moved to eliminate the troublesome Akhu Muslim.