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Fals - Ahmad b. Tulun
| Issuer | Tulunid Dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 868-884 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field bearing a brief Arabic Kufic inscription arranged in two or three lines, likely containing a religious formula or the name of the ruler Ahmad ibn Tulun. The legends are struck in angular Kufic script typical of ninth-century Abbasid-influenced coinage. The flan is irregular and slightly ragged at the edges, consistent with hand-cut copper planchets of the period. The surface shows natural patination with earthen deposits filling portions of the legend. No decorative border or pellet ring is discernible. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Additional information |
Ahmad ibn Tulun governed Egypt as an ostensibly loyal Abbasid governor but systematically redirected tax revenues to fund his own army and administration rather than remitting them to Baghdad — a fiscal maneuver that effectively made him independent without formally declaring it. Copper fulus of his reign circulated locally where silver dirhams were too valuable for small transactions, and the Tulunid administration issued them with enough regularity to suggest a deliberate monetary infrastructure rather than an ad hoc supplement.
Ibn Tulun also extended his control into Syria by 878, briefly uniting the two provinces under a single non-Abbasid authority for the first time since the early caliphate.