Apart from their monetary function, coins struck for Muslim caliphs and kings were symbols of the legitimacy, faith, power, and prestige that accrued to the dynasts in whose names they were minted. By the 690s, the sole markings on most Islamic coins consisted of writing, including the Muslim profession of faith, or shahada, the date and place of issue, and the name of the ruler. Their purely epigraphic content distinguished them from Byzantine and Sasanian coins (see M.2002.1.448), on which a human portrait appears as a symbol of the government’s authority, as with many coins familiar to us today.
This gold dinar, dated AH 86 (705 CE), probably struck in the capital, Damascus, exemplifies the revolutionary epigraphic coinage introduced by ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685−705), the fifth Umayyad caliph. As is standard, its text showcases key Islamic principles where the obverse bears the Sura Al-Ikhlas (112), affirming God’s unity, and the reverse features the shahada and a Qur’anic verse (9:33) proclaiming the Muslim faith and Islam’s supremacy over other religions. In contrast to the humbler copper fals, which was used for everyday transactions, gold dinars such as this were mostly reserved for state-level transactions, including the payment of taxes, reflecting the economic and political power of the expanding Islamic caliphate during this period.
2024
