[2] In 882, following a failed rebellion of his elder brother Abbas, who was "regarded as cruel and untrustworthy" (Moritz Sobernheim [de]), Khumarawayh was named as his father's deputy in Egypt and heir-apparent.

[4] In his last months, Ibn Tulun had sought to effect a reconciliation with al-Muwaffaq on the basis of the recognition of his authority over Egypt and Syria, but his death interrupted the negotiations.

The Abbasid prince was initially victorious, forcing Khumarawayh to flee, but was in turn defeated by the Tulunid general Sa'd al-Aysar and fled the battlefield, while much of his army was taken prisoner.

[1] Khumarawayh continued to pursue a rapprochement with the Abbasid court: he treated the prisoners of war from Tawahin with exceptional clemency, giving them the choice of either staying in Egypt under his own service or returning to Iraq without ransom.

This policy eventually led to the conclusion of an agreement in December 886, whereby Khumarawayh was recognized as governor over Egypt and Syria, with the right to be succeeded by his offspring, for a period of 30 years, in exchange for an unspecified annual tribute.

[1][6] In order to seal the pact, Khumarawayh offered his daughter, Qatr al-Nada as bride to one of the Caliph's sons, but al-Mu'tadid chose to marry her himself.

The Tulunid princess brought with her a million dinars as her dowry, a "wedding gift that was considered the most sumptuous in medieval Arab history" (Bianquis), and the lavish marriage ceremonies remained the stuff of folk legends in Egypt until well into the Ottoman period.

[3][7] The extravagant wedding shows Khumarawayh's famous frivolity with money—indeed it has been suggested that the whole affair was, in the words of the historian Ulrich Haarmann [de], "a calculated device on the part of the caliph to wreck the finances of his dangerously wealthy and powerful vassal".

[1] Domestically, his reign was one of "luxury and decay" (Hugh N. Kennedy), but also a time of relative tranquillity in Egypt as well as in Syria, a rather unusual occurrence for the period.

To them Khumarawayh added a special regiment, the al-mukhtāra ("the elect, picked"), mostly drawn from the Bedouins of the eastern Nile Delta, an area of great importance as it controlled the route connecting Syria and Egypt.

[1] As Hugh N. Kennedy comments, financial difficulties seem to have been inherent in the Abbasid model the Tulunids emulated, resulting from the "inability of the state to fund a large, mostly inactive army on a permanent basis".

Al-Mu'tadid swiftly took advantage of this: in 897 he extended his control over the border provinces of the Thughūr; forced the Tulunids to hand back all of Syria north of Homs; and increased the annual tribute to 450,000 dinars in exchange for caliphal recognition of Harun.