Al-Hasan ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj

Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj (924/5–982) was an Ikhshidid prince and briefly governor of Palestine and regent for his underage nephew Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad in 968–969. After his departure from Egypt, he assumed control of the remaining Ikhshidid domains in southern Syria and Palestine until defeated and captured by the Fatimids in March 970. He died in captivity in Cairo in 982.

Hasan was a son of Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj, and hence member of a cadet branch of the main Ikhshidid dynasty, founded by Ubayd Allah's brother Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid. According to the historian al-Farghani, relayed by Ibn Khallikan, he was born in 924/5. The famed poet al-Mutanabbi, during his sojourn in Egypt, dedicated a long qasida poem to Hasan.

Following the death in April 968 of Abu al-Misk Kafur—who had formally ruled the Ikhshidid state since 966, but had been the real power behind the throne since al-Ikhshid's death in 946—Hasan was appointed to the governorship of Palestine, where he confronted and ousted the previous governor, Akhu Muslim Abdallah. In autumn, he had to face a Qarmatian invasion of the Ikhshidids' Syrian domains. The Qarmatians captured Damascus and on 28 October defeated Hasan in battle before Ramla. The town was plundered for two days, but the locals managed to buy off the Qarmatians with 125,000 gold dinars.

Fleeing this defeat, he went to Egypt, where he intervened in the power struggle over control of the government and the young emir Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad, and took over Fustat. He imprisoned the long-time vizier Ja'far ibn al-Furat, whom he subjected to torture in order to extract much of his fortune, and ordered construction of a palace on Rawdah Island. His name was added on the coinage, which were the last coins minted by the Ikhshidid dynasty. Tellingly Hasan's name is found in the second position, after that of the Abbasid caliph al-Muti, and is followed by that of his nephew and nominal ruler, Ahmad. To further enhance his legitimacy, he married his cousin Fatima, daughter of al-Ikhshid, in January 969. Hasan seemed to have established himself as regent, but he was opposed by the local elites, and in February 969, after only three months in Fustat, he suddenly departed the capital for Palestine, leaving Egypt in the charge of Ibn al-Furat, whom he released from prison. The situation in Palestine had deteriorated in his absence: an invasion by the Qarmatians in alliance with the Tayy Bedouin had sacked the provincial capital, Ramla, and only departed after receiving a tribute of 125,000 gold dinars, while further north, the collapse of Hamdanid power in northern Syria exposed the entire region to the Byzantines, who laid siege to Antioch, capturing the city in October 969.

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