Dirham - al-Mutawakkil

Al-Mutawakkil's reign marked a sharp reversal of the Mu'tazilite rationalist policies his predecessors had enforced — he restored traditionalist Sunni doctrine as state orthodoxy and in 850 ordered the destruction of the tomb of Husayn at Karbala, forbidding pilgrimage to the site. His coinage was prolific across the eastern mints, and Album 230.3 places this piece within a specific die sequence reflecting administrative reorganization of the mint network during his caliphate. He was murdered in 861 by Turkish palace guards, ending a reign that had already seen real power drift irreversibly toward the military.