★ Very rare ★

ISLAMIC, Persia (Pre-Seljuq). Amirs of Al-Khuttal. al-Harith ibn Asad, circa AH 285-292 / AD 898-905. Dirham (Silver, 26 mm, 3.27 g, 3 h), al-Khuttal, AH 290 = 902/3. ‘ʿabd / lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū lā / sharīka lahū / al-Ḥārith ibn Asad’ (‘Servant [of Allah]. There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him. al-Harith ibn Asad’ in Arabic); the marginal legend seems to be, ‘li-llāh al-amr min qabl wa min baʿd wa yawmaʾidhin yafraḥu al-muʾminūn bi naṣr Allāh’ (‘To Allah belongs the command before and after, and on that day the believers will rejoice with the help of Allah’ in Arabic; Qurʾān 30: 4-5). Rev. Citing the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Muktafi billah (AH 289-295 / AD 902-908), and the Samanid Ismaʿil ibn Ahmad (AH 279-295 / AD 892-907) as overlord, ‘lillāh / Muḥammad / rasūl Allāh / al-Muktafī billāh / Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad’ (‘To Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. al-Muktafi billah. Ismaʿil ibn Ahmad’ in Arabic); inner margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi al-Khuttal sana tisʿīn wa miʾatayn’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dirham was struck in al-Khuttal in the year 290’ in Arabic); the outer marginal legend seems to be, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic). Album B1440. Very rare. Areas of weakness and with some edge cracks, otherwise, very fine.

From the collection of Dr. D. Löer, ex Heritage Europe 54, 22 May 2017, 6347 and Album 16, 17 May 2013, 390.