 Al @-@ Mu 'tasim 's accession thus signalled the decline of the previous Arab and Iranian elites , both in Baghdad and the provinces , and an increasing centralisation of administration around the caliphal court . A characteristic example is that of Egypt , where the Arab settler families , who still nominally formed the country 's army ( jund ) and continued to receive a salary from the local revenues . Al @-@ Mu 'tasim discontinued the practice , removing the Arab families from the army registers ( <unk> ) and ordering that the revenues of Egypt be sent to the central government , which would then pay the ʿaṭāʾ only to the Turkish troops stationed in the province . 
