Gold dinar
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The gold dinar (
The word dinar comes from the Latin word
The first dinars were issued by the Umayyad Caliphate. Under the dynasties that followed the use of the dinar spread from Islamic Spain to Central Asia.
Background
Although there was a
First dated coins
The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver
In parallel with the later Khosrau-type Arab-Sassanian coins, first issued under the Well-Guided Caliphs of Islam, a more extensive series was struck with Khosrau's name replaced by that of the local Arab governor or, in two cases, that of the Caliph. Historical evidence makes it clear that most of these coins bear
First silver dirham
By the year AH 75 (695 CE) Abd al-Malik had decided on changes to the coinage. A scattering of patterned pieces in silver exist from this date, based on Sassanian prototypes but with distinctive Arabic reverses. This experiment, which maintained the Sassanian weight standard of 3.5–4.0 grams was not proceeded with, and in AH 79 (698 CE) a completely new type of silver coin was struck at 14 mints to a new nominal weight of 2.97 grams. Unlike the contemporary gold coinage, this figure does not seem to have been achieved in practice. The average weight of sixty undamaged specimens of AH 79–84 (698–704 CE) is only 2.71 grams, a figure very close to that for a unique coin of (AH 79) 698 struck with no mint name (as was the standard procedure for the gold dinars produced in Damascus). These new coins which bore the name of 'dirham', established the style of the Arab-Sassanian predecessors at 25 to 28 mm in diameter. Their design is composed of Arabic inscriptions surrounded by circles and annulets.
On each side there is a three- or four-line legend with a single circular inscription. Outside this are three line circles with, at first, five annulets surrounding them. The side normally taken as the obverse has as its central legend the Kalima or shahada: "There is no god except God alone, there is no partner with Him." Around it is the mint and date formula reading "In the Name of God: this Dirham was struck in [mint name e.g. Damascus] the year [e.g. 698, AH 79]". The reverse has a four line central inscription taken from the Surah 112 of the Quran; "Qul hu Allahu Ahad, Allahu-Samad, Lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakul-lahu kufu-an ahad"'. The marginal legend states: "Muhammad is the Messenger of God, he was sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over every other religion, averse though the idolaters may be" (Quran 9:33).
First gold dinar
The gold coins were first struck to the contemporary standard of 4.4 grams and with one or more Arabic Standing figures on the obverse and an Arabic legend on the reverse. Dated coins exist from 680 (AH 74) and are named as 'Dinars'. These experimental issues were replaced in 683 (AH 77), except in North Africa and Spain, by completely epigraphical designs very similar to the designs adopted for the silver pieces but with a shorter reverse legend and no annulets or inner circles. This type was used without appreciable change for the whole of
Early gold dinars imitated Byzantine and Sasanian coins of the time, but as time progressed, they began to take on a more uniquely Islamic style. Two early examples, minted in approximately 692 and 694 C.E., have similar designs. Both have a depiction of figures on the obverse while the reverse includes a pyramid-shaped pedestal and a staff with a circular head resting at the top. These two early coin types both bear significant resemblance to Byzantine coins of the same period and were all but copied whole cloth from Byzantine designs, the only alterations being the removal of the horizontal bar of the Byzantine cross for religious reasons and the conversion of figures on the front to wearing Islamic-style dress.[3] In the year 692 C.E., the shahada or profession of faith was added onto the obverse and in 694 C.E. it was added to the reverse.[3] In the year 696-7 C.E., images were almost completely removed from coins and were replaced by coins exclusively decorated with inscriptions.[4]
The issues in gold from North Africa began as copies of the coins of Heraclius and his son (but with abbreviated shahada in Latin), the reverse "cross on steps" losing in most cases its cross piece. Dinars, halves and thirds were struck, all to the new weight standard. Later coins are dated by
Modern use
The modern gold dinar is not an official currency, but a private bullion coin, patterned after the historical currency.
See also
References
- ^ Porteous 1969
- ^ Broome, Michael. "A Handbook of Islamic Coins." (Page 11)
- ^ a b Bloom, Jonathan; Blair, Sheila (1997). Islamic Arts. Phaidon. p. 66.
- ^ Miles, George, C (1967). "The Earliest Arab Gold Coinage". Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society). 13: 205.
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Sources
- Porteous, John (1969). "The Imperial Foundations". Coins in History: A Survey of Coinage from the Reform of Diocletian to the Latin Monetary Union. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 14–33. ISBN 0-297-17854-7.