al-Mutazz's reign is marked by instability and insecurity, and by his ultimate failure to subdue the military. This weakness in the centre fed the centrifugal tendencies already evident in the Caliphate's provinces. In Egypt, the talented Turkish commander Ahmad ibn Tulun was appointed governor in 868, and proceeded to establish the autonomous Tulunid dynasty. Although it fell to the Abbasids in 905, the Tulunid regime had established Egypt as a distinct political entity for the first time since the Pharaohs. Restored Abbasid rule proved volatile; another local dynasty, the Ikhshidids, took power in 935, followed by the country's conquest by the Abbasids' rivals, the Fatimid Caliphate, in 969. In the east, Alid uprisings weakened Tahirid rule, and led to the establishment of a Zaydi state in Tabaristan, under Hasan ibn Zayd. At the same time, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar began his assault on the waning Tahirids, which would lead him to control over the eastern provinces of the Caliphate, and even an unsuccessful attempt to seize the caliphal throne itself in 876. Closer to home, Kharijite revolts shook the Jazira to the north, and in the south, around Basra, the first stirrings of the great Zanj Rebellion began. References Sources 847 births 869 deaths Arab Muslims 9th-century Abbasid caliphs Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate Sons of Abbasid caliphs