Islamic Coinage

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The Islamic Coinage, are the coins minted, issued, and in some cases restruck by the Muslims across the areas that fell under their domain, starting in the late seventh century CE. At the time of the advent of Islam, during the lifetime of prophet Muhammad (circa 570-630 CE), two coins, dìn´r and dirham, were in circulation.

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List of Coins

circa 685 CE

Silver Dirham of ibn al-Zubayr
The coin of 'Abdullah ibn Zubair, possibly minted in the Darabjerd Mint, Fars, Iran. It is one of the earliest known Arab-Sasanian coin struck .

circa 690 CE

Coins with Byzantine/Sasanian Influence
Initially, the new coinage contained depictions of the caliph as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community and its supreme military commander. The most consequential of Abd al-Malik's reforms were the introduction of a single Islamic currency in place of Byzantine and Sasanian coinage and the establishment of Arabic as the language of the bureaucracy in place of Greek and Persian in Syria and Iraq, respectively.

circa 690 CE

Transition Towards the Text
Although the first coins minted contained the depictions of the caliph Ibn Marwan, this image proved no less acceptable to Muslim officialdom and was replaced in 696 or 697 with image-less coinage inscribed with Qur'anic quotes and other Muslim religious formulas. In 698/99, similar changes were made to the silver dirhams issued by the Muslims in the former Sasanian Persian lands in the eastern Caliphate.

References

Gibb, H. A. R. (1960). "ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 76–77. OCLC 495469456.
Kennedy, Hugh (2016). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Third ed.). Oxford and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-78761-2.
Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7.

Islamic Coinage

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