LE MONDE ARABE
Abbasid Caliphate
al-Mu‘tamid AH 256-279 (870-892 CE). Dinar citing ‘Abbasid prince Ahmad ibn al-Muwaffaq, ‘Uqaylid ruler Muhammad ibn Safwan and Muhammad ibn Abi al-Saj AH 275 (888-89 CE), Harran. Obverse: Kalima. Below: al-mufawwidh ila allah - muhammad. Inner marginal inscription: Mint and date. Outer marginal inscription: Qur’an XXX: 4-5 / Reverse: lillah - muhammad - rasul - allah - al-mu‘tamid ‘ala allah - ahmad bin al-muwaffaq billah . muhammad bin safwan. Marginal inscription: Qur’an IX: 33. 4,22g. Unpublished.

Extremely rare and of the highest historical importance. Extremely fine.

This unique dinar is an important historical source as it sheds more light on the institute of power and governorship in medieval Syria and the city of Harran in particular. This is a rare occasion when five historical personages are cited on a coin simultaneously: the ‘Abbasid caliph, his son and heir to the throne al-Mufawwidh as major governor of the West, caliphal nephew Ahmad (future caliph al-Mu‘tadid), caliphal governor of Syria and the founder of the Sajid dynasty Muhammad ibn Abi Saj and his subordinate, the ‘Uqaylid chieftain Muhammad ibn Safwan about whom almost nothing left in contemporary literary sources.

Gold dinars of this type are known for the Syrian city of Qarqisiya only (Bernardi 2010, 195Hk). No coins from Harran have been recorded so far.