He preserved control of al-Jazira through a series of tactical submissions to larger neighboring powers, at various times recognizing Ayyubid, Rûmi Seljuq, and Mongol overlords.

[10] Following his usurpation his new position as ruler of Mosul was recognised by the Abbasid Khalif, Al-Mustansir, who bestowed upon him the praise name al-Malik al-Rahim ("The Merciful King").

[12] The territory controlled by Badr al-Din Lu'lu' was quite extensive and reached it maximum in 1251, including Kurdistan, Sinjar, Jazirat ibn Umar, Nusaybin in the west, and the Khabur district as far as Qarqisiya on the Euphrates to the east.

[13] Lu'lu' built extensively in his domain, improving the fortifications of Mosul, the Sinjar Gate bearing his device survived into the 20th century, and constructing religious structures and caravanserais.

[8] Badr al-Din Lu'Lu', who also had maintained good relations with the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad or the Ayyubids of Syria depending on the circumstances, supported the Mongol invasion of Mesopotamia.

Following the Battle of Köse Dağ (1243), he recognized the authority of the Mongols in a way similar to the Armenian ruler Hethum I, thus avoiding destruction for his city of Mosul.

[16][17] In 1246, he was summoned to the kuriltai for the accession of the new Mongol ruler Güyük Khan, to which he sent envoys who participated to the ceremonies in Karakorum with other western vassals of the Mongols such as Hethum I of Armenian Cilicia, David VI and David VII of Georgia, the later Seljuk Rums Sultan Kilij Arslan IV,[18] or Manuel I of Trebizond, the Sultan of Erzurum and the Grand Prince of Russia Yaroslav II of Vladimir.

During the final stages of the Mongol invasion of Mesopotamia, and following the Siege of Baghdad in 1258, the 80 years old Badr al-Din went in person to Meraga to reaffirm his submission to the Mongol invader Hulagu, together with the Seljuk Rums Sultans Kaykaus II and Kilij Arslan IV, and al-Azziz, son of the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo an-Nasir Yusuf.

[14] The Spanish Muslim traveller Ibn Said reported in 1250: Mosul … there are many crafts in this city, especially inlaid-brass vessels, which are exported (and presented) to rulers, as are the silken garments woven thereTo a large extent, the flourishing of metalworks under Badr al-Din Lu'lu' and in other parts of the Near-East is attributed to the western exodus of artists from Khurasan as a consequence of the Mongol conquests.

During his period as governor for the Zengid dynasty, Lu'lu' appears prominently in the 1218-1219 edition the Kitāb al-aghānī ("Book of Songs"), probably made in Mosul.

One of them, the Jacobite-Syrian Lectionary of the Gospels, was created at the Mar Mattai Monastery 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Mosul, c.1220 (Vatican Library, Ms. Syr.