Publication Date
89 AH / 715 - 716 AD
Publication Place
-
Money Museum of the Bank of Morocco; Rabat
Subject
Cast and minted gold. — Dar al-Sikka, Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia).
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
القطر: 1.2 سم؛ الوزن: 4.28 غرام
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
4
Record ID
object;ISL;ma;Mus01_F;1;ar
Library Location
Money Museum of the Bank of Morocco; Rabat
Date
89 AH / 715 - 716 AD
Notes
This beautifully crafted gold dinar is one of the first Umayyad coins and one of the most innovative. The piece was minted in Africa (present-day Tunisia) during the rule of Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik, and includes the basic features that his father enacted in the field of coinage, namely making the dinar an official currency, abolishing all iconographic depictions, and the exclusive use of the art of Arabic calligraphy. Thus, in the most visible places on the coin - the center of the face and the back - as was the rule of that era, the testimony of the Islamic faith was engraved in ancient Kufic letters: “There is no god but God” and “Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” Whereas, contrary to established usage, the phrases engraved on the circular axis of the obverse and reverse are written in abbreviated Latin letters, similar to Byzantine coins minted in Africa; The monetary value of the piece is marked on the circumference of the obverse: “Solidus (dinar), the place of minting of the coin “Feritus in Africa” (done in Africa), and the Hijri year of issue “Anno: Socius (alone and without a partner), which may prove that the region of Africa was not completely Arabized during that period, and that there were peoples who had still not embraced the Islamic religion, and spoke only the Latin language. It is likely that this situation forced the authorities in the region, who were the governors who were appointed by the Umayyads, to mint dinars with Latin-Arabic expressions on them, and to use a language other than Arabic to spread the Islamic faith, and thus, the money used was used. Originally traded for the purpose of religious propaganda.
Sample Text
Naima El Khatib-Boujibar “Dinar (solidus)” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_F;1;ar
