Ibn al-Ikhshad or Ibn al-Ikhshid (Arabic: إبن الإخشيد) was the governor of Tarsus for the Abbasid Caliphate from April 898 until his death in battle against the Byzantines in early 900.
The name Ibn al-Ikhshad or Ibn al-Ikhshid derives from the Persian title ikhshid.[1] From 890 until 897, the city of Tarsus and the borderlands (thughur) with the Byzantine Empire were controlled by the autonomous Tulunid dynasty of Egypt, but in 897 a pro-Abbasid party under Raghib took power in the city and arrested the Tulunid governor Damian and other pro-Tulunid officials. Envoys were then sent to the Abbasid capital Baghdad to ask for the appointment of a new governor.[2][3] This was done, as Caliph al-Mu'tadid appointed Ibn al-Ikhshad as governor (amir), the latter leaving Baghdad to take up his post on 17 April 898 along with the Tarsiote envoys.[4]
In the same winter (December 898/January 899) he undertook a raid against the Byzantines, reaching the fortress of Salandu (Traianopolis), which he captured, returning to Tarsus in early 899.[4][5] Following the arrest of Raghib at Raqqa in August 899, Ibn al-Ikhshad arrested his servants and confiscated his possessions in Tarsus.[6] Ibn al-Ikhshad was killed in another expedition into Byzantine territory shortly after, probably in early 900, leaving Abu Thabit as his deputy and successor behind him.[5][7]
Stern, S. M. (1960). "The Coins of Thamal and of Other Governors of Tarsus". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 80 (3): 217–225. doi:10.2307/596170. JSTOR596170.