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Dirham - Anonymous Arab
| Issuer | Umayyad Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 698-750 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears multiple concentric circular bands of Kufic Arabic inscription radiating outward from a central text panel. The innermost panel contains the Islamic profession of faith (Shahada) in angular Kufic script. Surrounding marginal legends carry additional Quranic text, characteristic of the post-reform coinage introduced under Abd al-Malik. The coin is aniconic, in accordance with Islamic tradition, bearing no figural imagery whatsoever. The striking is irregular, consistent with hand-hammered production of the early Umayyad period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له |
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| Additional information |
The fully epigraphic silver dirham introduced under Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan around 696–698 AD marked a deliberate break from the Sasanian-derived coinage that had preceded it — the first purely Islamic coin type, stripped of all figural imagery at a moment when the caliphate was asserting ideological distance from both Byzantine and Persian monetary traditions. The reform was also fiscal: standardizing weight across a vast territory stretching from Iberia to Central Asia required a type that mints from Damascus to Merv could reproduce without variation in design competence.
The term "anonymous" is something of a misnomer. Most issues carry mint name and date in the Hijri calendar — it is the absence of a caliph's personal name that defines the type.