★ A very rare dirham from Ifriqiya/Barqa (Cyrenaica) ★

ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. al-Hadi, AH 169-170 / AD 785-786. Dirham (Silver, 24 mm, 2.47 g, 9 h), Ifriqiya/Barqa (Cyrenaica), AH 170 = 786. ‘lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi Ifrīqiya sana sabʿīn wa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dirham was struck in Ifriqiya in the year 170’ in Arabic). Rev. Citing his son and heir Harun, ‘li’l-khalīfa al-Hādī / mimmā amara bihī Hārūn / walī ʿahd al-muslimīn’ (‘For Caliph al-Hadi. From that ordered by Harun, successor to the covenant of the Muslims’ in Arabic); above and below, ‘Bar – qa’ (in Arabic); in the margin: ‘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 217.4. Very rare. Graffiti and deposits, otherwise, very fine.