Muhammad ibn Ali al-Armani was the son of the Abbasid military commander Ali al-Armani ("Ali the Armenian"), celebrated for leading several campaigns against the Byzantine Empire during his tenure as governor of Tarsus, from ca. 852/3 to 862. Muhammad himself was appointed to the same post in 872, after the nominated governor Muhammad ibn Harun al-Taghlibi died before taking up the post, and held it until he was killed by the Byzantines in 873.