LE MONDE ARABE
Uqaylids
‘Izz al-Dawla with ‘Alam al-Din Quraysh AH 443-453 (1052-1061 CE) accepting the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Qa’im AH 422-467 (1031-1075 CE). Dirham AH 445 (1053-54 CE), ‘Ukbara. Obverse: Kalima. Inner marginal inscription: … abu takur al-islam ‘izz al-dawlah wa ‘alam al-din.Outer marginal inscription: Mint and date / Reverse: lillah - muhammad - rasul - allah - al-qa’im bi-amr allah. Marginal inscription: Qur’an IX: 33. 2,30g. Unpublished.

Very fine.

It seems the mint on this extremely rare and probably unique dirham is ‘Ukbārā-ra- (written as أوكبارا) located some 55 km away from Baghdad. The obverse inner marginal inscription mentions ‘Izz al-Dawla who is probably identical with the ‘Uqaylid ruler Sinan al-Umara otherwise known only through his coinage at Awana dated 426 AH (Album 760D) as well as one at Shahanshah Abu Takur. The numismatic history of the last ‘Uqaylids, especially after 428 AH, is rather obscure therefore this is a very interesting and historically important coin.