courtesy of Stefan Heidemann

ISLAMIC COINS

By MICHAEL L. BATES

ANS Handbook 2

The American Numismatic Society

New York

Copyright 1982
The American Numismatic Society
This Handbook is available separately and in a
deluxe edition which includes 36 color slides
depicting the coins described herein. The coins are
all in the collection of the American Numismatic
Society.
MUSEUM FÜR ISLAMISCHE KUNST
£'£//!H z
KRIIM-MHLEM
Printed in the United States of America
Introduction
Since their invention, coins have been message bearers
äs well äs money. Nations, cities, and rulers have used
coins to make enduring Statements about their identities,
their achievements, and their fundamental beliefs. In the
Western coinage tradition, images have always been more
prominent than words in conveying these messages.
Islamic coins, like Islam itself, emphasize words instead
of images. As a result, the messages communicated by
Islamic coins are longer and more explicit. A typical
Islamic coin bears the name and titles of a ruler (or several
rulers), several religious Statements, and the place and
date of the coin's making.
For Muslims, the importance of the explicit message
carried by coins was such that sikka, the appearance of the
ruler's name on the coinage, was one of the two essential
marks of independent sovereignty, along with khutba, the
invocation of God's blessing on the ruler in the Friday
mosque prayer service. An Islamic coin is a miniature
dated document: its issuers speak to us directly in their
own words, telling us who they were, where and when
they governed, and what they believed.
In addition to these explicit intentional messages, coins
also provide Information in other ways that their makers
did not suspect. Their inscriptions teil us of the evolution
of language and script. The style and skill of their
engraving teil us something of the level and nature of
artistic activity. Their weight and metal content give us a
notion of their value, and from this teil us something
about the workings of the economy in which they were
used. From the location and dates of activity of their
mints, we learn about the economic and administrative
geography of their time. They provide evidence of the way
they were made, which teils us something about the Translations of Standard Phrases
technology of their era. Using sophisticated scientific and
statistical methods, it is even possible to guess bism Allah In the name of God
approximately how many coins of each variety were laüahüla Allah There is no god but God
issued, and where their metal came from. In many ways, wahdah (after above) the One; alone
Islamic coins are precious, direct evidence for the history lä shartk lahu He has no associate
of Muslim peoples and civilizations. Muhammad rasül Allah Muhammad is the messenger
This booklet and the accompanying slides provide only ofGod
a glimpse of the richness and diversity of the Islamic duriba (it) was struck
coinage tradition äs it has evolved from the seventh darb striking (of)
Century to the twentieth, and spread from Morocco to the hadha 'l-dfaär this dinar (gold coin)
Philippines. For convenience, discussion of the coinage hddhd 'l-dirham this dirham (silver coin)
runs continuously on the left pages of this booklet, sana, ftsana year, in the year
accompanied by the illustrations. The catalogue, contain- bi- (prefixed to mint name) in
ing detailed Information on each of the coins, is on the lülah (belonging) to God
right pages. All the slide illustrations are reproduced in
the booklet, keyed to the slide numbers. Subsidiary
numbers identify individual coins in each Illustration, Reference Abbreviations
starting from the top, left to right. Since it has not been
possible to show both sides of the same coin on a single ANSMN: Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society,
slide, duplicate coins have been used when available to New York).
show both sides of an issue. Lower case letters designate ANSNNM: Numismatic Notes and Monographs (Ameri-
coin faces illustrated only in the booklet, not on the slides. can Numismatic Society, New York).
In the catalogue, each coin is described, with ANSNS: Numismatic Studies (American Numismatic Soci-
translations of the inscriptions (some common inscriptions ety, New York).
are translated only once on page 5). The coins are identi- BMCArabByz: John Walker, Catalogue of the Muham-
fied by dynasty, ruler, mint and date and metal and madan Coins in the British Museum, 2: Arab-Byzantine
denomination. Hijra and other era date s are given with and Post-Reform Umaiyad Coins (London, 1956).
the equivalent Christian era dates, so that 79 H., approxi- BMCArabSas: John Walker, Catalogue of the Muham-
mately equal to A.D. 698, appears äs 79/698. For many of madan Coins in the British Museum, 1: Arab-Sassanian
the coins, references to special studies on the subject are Coins (London, 1941).
given. There is also a bibliography of general works. BMCOr: Stanley Lane Poole, Catalogue of the Oriental
Coins in the British Museum, 10 vols. (London,
1875-90).