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1 Dirham - Tahir I ibn al-Husayn Samarqand
| Issuer | Tahirid dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 821 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dirham (0.7) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field bears a multi-line Kufic inscription naming the Abbasid caliph and recording the mint name Samarqand (Samarqand) and the AH date, arranged in horizontal registers within a plain inner circle. The surrounding marginal legend, contained between two concentric linear circles, carries the Quranic verse from Surat al-Tawba (9:33) attesting to the mission of the Prophet. The composition is entirely epigraphic, executed in the angular Kufic style characteristic of early ninth-century Abbasid and Tahirid provincial coinage. |
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| Mint | Samarqand |
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| Additional information |
Tahir ibn al-Husayn founded his dynasty on a remarkable act of political theatre: his Friday sermon of 821 in Khurasan pointedly omitted the name of Caliph al-Ma'mun from the khutba — the public prayer that functioned as the primary declaration of political allegiance in the Abbasid world. He died within days, almost certainly poisoned on caliphal orders. This dirham, struck at Samarqand in that same year, predates the provocation and belongs to the earliest stratum of Tahirid coinage, before the dynasty had fully consolidated its semi-autonomous posture in the east.