Description

The dinar had the phrase “There is no God but Allah, the one who has no partner” on the obverse (head), and “Muhammad is a messenger sent by God with guidance and the religion of truth to proclaim it over all religion” on the edge. On the reverse (tails), the phrase “Muhammad is the messenger of God” was inscribed, surrounded by an edge that read “in the name of Allah, this dinar was coined in the year one hundred and sixty-eight”.

Abbasid Coins

The Abbasid Caliphate depended on the Umayyad monetary system without any change in the general form or weight. The only difference was in the inscriptions, as the Abbasids removed the Quranic extract from the reverse (tails) of the dirhams and dinars. Instead, they added the phrase “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” to emphasize their relationship with him.

In this period, the caliphs started inscribing their names on Islamic coins. Caliph Muhammad al-Mahdi was the first to put his name on the dirham in 775 AD/158 AH. Then came Harun al-Rashid (786 AD/170 AH – 809 AD/193 AH) who put his name and titles “Abd Allah Harun, the Caliph”. He was the first to coin his name and titles on the Islamic dinar, declaring himself the legitimate caliph and leader. Besides that, they sometimes added the names of crowned princes in preparation for their coronation, which led to the use of the title “the crowned prince of the Muslims” on Islamic coins. In some cases, the names of some governors, specifically those of Egypt, were inscribed on the coins. Moreover, the dinars in this period, precisely by the beginning of al-Ma’mun’s reign in 813 AD/198 AH, had witnessed significant development, namely adding the place of coinage.
 

• 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): 223, 329.