Kafur’s death left Egypt in a state of confusion. The court assembled to elect a governor; a significant mark of the times, for no reference was made to the Khalif at Baghdad, who was a mere phantom. The choice fell on Abu l-Fawaris Ahmad, grandson of the Ikhshih Muhammad b. Tughj, who was a mere child. Soon after this, however, there arrived in Egypt Husayn, the son of ʿAbdullah, the brother whom Muhammad had left in Syria in 321. During the thirty years which had elapsed since then ʿUbayd and his son had had a chequered military career, and the son now arrived as a fugitive, fleeing from the Qarmatians. His arrival was welcome to the Turkish troops who forthwith elected him their general, and he at once assumed the supreme power. The use he made of this authority was to arrest the wazir Ibn al-Furat and torture him until he wrung from him a large sum of money with which he departed at once to Syria. During his brief stay in Egypt he had been guilty of other acts of cruelty and rapacity, and when a year later he was himself sent a prisoner to Egypt, there was a general feeling of satisfaction that he was himself treated with severity. His departure for Syria took place on the first of Rabiʿ II. 358 (Feb., 969). The rule of the Ikhshids, or at least their nominal authority, continued for five months more until the summer of the same year (Ibn Khall, Life of Tughj). It was a time of acute disorder. Famine had followed the failure of the Nile, and plague had followed the famine. The soldiers had their pay diminished, their customary gratuities were in arrear, and they were in open mutiny, for there was no controlling hand to restrain them. The administration was in the hands of the wazir Ibn al-Furat, who had been plundered by ʿAbdullah, and he was unable either to pay the troops or to relieve the distress of the people. It was clear that under these conditions the country would be in no condition to offer effective resistance to an invader, and this was the moment chosen by the Fatimid Khalif to make his attack. For two years (356-357) al-Moʿizz had been making detailed preparations for the invasion of Egypt. In 356 he had commenced constructing roads, digging wells along the roadside, and building rest-houses at regular intervals. At the same time he began collecting funds for the necessary expenses and paying substantial sums to the Katama leaders, who were thus enabled to arm and equip their followers. As we have already seen, there had been Fatimite missionaries for some time at work in Egypt, and al-Moʿizz had even made formal advances to Kafur and had been well received, and his proposals for coming to Egypt had been heard with politeness: he certainly had many strong adherents in high office in Egypt. Now the general disorder following the famine and plague, and the disorganization after Kafur’s death seemed to furnish the right opportunity, just as all his preparations were mature.