40 Para - Husayn

The 40 Para denomination was borrowed directly from Ottoman currency divisions — a deliberate choice by Sharif Husayn bin Ali, who had just declared the Arab Revolt in June 1916 and needed coinage familiar to a population that had spent centuries under Ottoman fiscal administration. Minting his own coins was as much a political act as a practical one, asserting Hejazi independence while keeping the arithmetic of daily commerce unchanged.

Production was handled under considerable logistical difficulty, with the nascent Hashemite administration lacking established mint infrastructure. The copper-nickel composition echoes late Ottoman minor coinage of the same period.