Description

A golden coin from the Umayyad period. On the center of the obverse (head), the phrase “There is no God but Allah the one, who has no partner”. On the edge around the obverse, you can read the phrase “Muhammad is a messenger sent by God with guidance and the religion of truth to proclaim it over all religions”. As for the opposite side (tails), there is the inscription “Allah is one; Allah is the eternal refuge; he neither begets nor is born”, surrounded by an edge that reads “In the name of Allah, this dinar was coined in the year six and one hundred”.

The first phase of the currency reformation for the golden dinar as executed by Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan was also known as the ‘Imperial Images Phase’. It builds on the dinar coined in the final years of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (See BAAM 1034), altering some of the Christian references. For instance, Muslims removed the top part of the cross to remove its religious connotation. In addition, another style was coined with an image of three people wearing Arab clothes that differed from those of the Byzantines on the coins of Heraclius and his two sons Heraclonas and Constantine. The new style also altered the image of the cross that rests on top of a platform to end with a small sphere, adding a margin with the following text in Kufic script “In the name of Allah, there is no God but Allah the one and only, Muhammad is the messenger of God”. After that came the “Arab Image Phase” in 694 AD/74 AH, where the busts of Heraclius and his two sons were replaced by that of Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan with a margin that reads “In the name of Allah, there is no God but Allah the one and only, Muhammad is the messenger of God”. On the opposite side (tail), the cross was altered and the year of coinage added. Finally, the last Arabization phase took place. This period is when the pure Islamic design was issued in 697 AD/77 AH. During this phase, the Byzantine influence disappeared entirely and Arabic Islamic script replaced all the images, as seen in the attached examples. That way, the new dinar carried the religious and political features of the Islamic state.

The Coins of Early Islam

The coins used in early Islam during the reign of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs were divided into two main groups based on their circulation. The first group was in use between the reign of the first caliph Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and the early years of the second caliph Umar Ibn al-Khattab. During this period, the circulated coins remained the same as during the days of the prophet. For instance, the golden Byzantine dinars, the silver Sassanian dirhams, and the copper fils were still in circulation. As for the second group, it starts after the eighteenth year after Hijra (639 AD), when Umar coined dirhams that carried the same forms and inscriptions of the Sassanian dirhams. However, he added some words that reflect the features of the Islamic belief, such as “Al-hamdullah” (Thank God), “Muhammad Rasul Allah” (Muhammad is the prophet of God), or “La Ilah Ila Allah Wahdo” (There is no God but Allah the one and only). That was the first time for Muslims to coin their own money. In addition, the coins at the time of “Uthman Ibn Affan” and “Ali Ibn Abi Talib” were not any different, except for the addition of some phrases. For instance, “Barakah” (blessing), “Bism Allah” (In the name of God) were added during the reign of “Uthman”, and “Muhammad” and “Bism Allah Rabi” (In the name of Allah, my God) during Ali’s.

Umayyad Coins

The same Byzantine dinars kept circulating without any change during the early period of the Umayyad dynasty until the reign of the Caliph Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan (685 AD/65 AH – 705 AD/ 86 AH). Muslims also kept coining dirhams after the Sassanian style with the addition of some Arabic words. The early Umayyad Caliphs only added few details. For instance, Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufian added his name and title “Mu’awiya Ameer al- Mu’ameneen” (Mu’awiya the Muslim’s Caliph) in Pahlavi script on the dirham to declare himself the legitimate caliph after his conflict with Ali Ibn Abi Talib and his two sons Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. The workers in the eastern states and provinces of the Umayyad Caliphate also coined dirhams after the Sassanian style with their names in Pahlavi script. Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi was considered the first to add his name and the testimony that “there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger” in Arabic letters on these Arabic Sassanian dirhams.
However, the major change that occurred in the history of Islamic coins goes back, as mentioned before, to the Caliph Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan, during whose reign the coins became purely Islamic instead of following the Sassanian and Byzantine styles. This process of currency changing took three to four years to reach its final form of the dinar in the year 697 AD/77 AH, the dirham in 698 AD/78 AH, and the fils in 706 AD/87 AH, according to the oldest dated samples.

• Zahi Hawass, ed., Bibliotheca Alexandrina: The Archaeology Museum (Cairo: The Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002): 133.
• Mona Serry, ed., Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Antiquities Museum, introduction by Ismail Serageldin (Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Antiquities Museum, 2015): 222, 329.
• محمد أبو الفرج العش، النقود العربية الإسلامية: في متحف قطر الوطني، مج. 1 (الدوحة: وزارة الإعلام والثقافة، 1992).
• ديفيد وليام ماكدوال، مجموعات النقود، ترجمة نبيل زين الدين، مراجعة حامد رمضان الجوهري (القاهرة: الهيئة المصرية للكتاب، 1986).