5 Mithqual - Guangxu Ration coinage, with Arabic on obverse, cross at centre

Sinkiang's ration coinages of the late Qing period were struck to pay Muslim troops garrisoned in the region, where Chinese-script coinage was politically awkward and practically distrusted. The Arabic legends were a deliberate accommodation — not an oversight — reflecting the Qing court's ongoing effort to maintain fragile loyalty among Uyghur and Dungan populations still unsettled after the devastating Yakub Beg rebellion of the 1860s–70s, which had temporarily severed the province from Qing control entirely.

The cross at centre is a mint-control mark, not a religious symbol, used to distinguish issues by weight standard and intended recipient.