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1 Dirham - 'Ali b. Muhammad 'Askar al-Imâm
| Issuer | Zanj Rebellion |
|---|---|
| Year | 872 |
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| Currency | Dinar (628/632-1598) |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears the Islamic profession of faith (shahada) in multiple lines of Kufic script, reading 'la ilaha illa Allah / Muhammad rasul Allah'. The central inscription is enclosed within a single linear inner circle, surrounded by a broad marginal legend band containing additional Arabic religious formulae in Kufic characters. The coin is struck on an irregular flan typical of Abbasid-style dirhams of the period, with the field exhibiting the characteristic flat, aniconographic design of early Islamic silver coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Additional information |
The Zanj Rebellion — a massive uprising of enslaved East African laborers in the marshlands of southern Iraq — lasted from 869 to 883 and at its height controlled Basra and threatened Baghdad itself. 'Ali b. Muhammad's movement struck its own coinage as a direct assertion of governmental authority, an act that placed the rebellion in deliberate competition with the Abbasid caliphate it sought to overthrow. That this silver dirham survives at all is remarkable; the Abbasid reconquest was thorough, and rebel material was not preserved with any sympathy.
The epithet "Askar al-Imam" — the Imam's Army — reflects the quasi-messianic framing 'Ali b. Muhammad imposed on the movement.