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Ashrafi - al-Ashraf Qansuh II al-Ghuri
| Issuer | Mamluk Sultanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1501-1516 |
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| Value | 1 Dinar |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field occupied by a bold Arabic Thuluth-script inscription of the Shahada rendered in multiple lines, separated by horizontal zigzag dividers that create a characteristic tiered layout. A central latticed or grated ornamental device bisects the inscriptional field, a hallmark of late Mamluk gold coinage. The legends are deeply struck in high relief against a granular, hand-struck flan with irregular edges characteristic of the hammered technique. The overall composition fills the flan to its margins, leaving virtually no undecorated field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله |
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| Additional information |
Al-Ghuri inherited a sultanate already hemorrhaging revenue, and his gold coinage reflects it directly. The debased fineness of these ashrafi issues — a sharp decline from earlier Mamluk standards — was a fiscal response to the Ottoman commercial pressure strangling Levantine trade routes and, more critically, the Portuguese disruption of Red Sea spice traffic after 1498. Al-Ghuri reportedly attempted to rebuild an Egyptian fleet to contest Portuguese control of the Indian Ocean lanes, funded in part by currency debasement.
He died at Marj Dabiq in August 1516, killed — or more likely felled by a stroke mid-battle — as the Ottoman guns of Selim I shattered the Mamluk cavalry.