[1] The exact line of descent of the family is disputed among various sources, but the first members that can be reliably dated were the trader Idris and his brother Isa, sons of Ma'qel, residing in Kufa in the time of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (ruled 724–743).

Over time their holdings around Karaj became extensive, and by the 9th century they possessed large tracts of cultivated land, palaces and fortresses.

[1][2] The first Dulafid to become governor of Jibal was Isa's son Abu Dulaf al-Ijli, who was appointed to the position by the caliph Harun al-Rashid (r.

[1][2] He maintained especially good relations with al-Ma'mun's successor al-Mu'tasim (r. 832–842), serving him both as military commander against the Khurramites and as governor (with a possible appointment to Damascus), and even became the Caliph's drinking companion, and dying in Baghdad in 839/40.

[2] After Abu Dulaf's death, his son Abd al-Aziz succeeded him in his position as governor of Jibal, while another brother, Hisham, served the caliphal court as a general in ca.

[4] After Ahmad's death in 893, however, al-Mu'tadid swiftly intervened in the succession disputes between Ahmad's sons, Bakr and Umar, to re-establish caliphal authority: in 894, the Caliph visited Jibal in person, and divided the Dulafid territories, giving the governorship of Rayy, Qazvin, Qum and Hamadan to his own son Ali al-Muktafi, while confining Umar to the Dulafid core region around Karaj and Isfahan.