Umayyad gold dinar minted in 106 ah 724 ce collections. It began in syria in 661 ad and lasted for 89 years before ending in 750 ad, as it was overrun by the abbasid family, which would lead to the next major caliphate, the abbasid caliphate. Dvd 362 books on islamic coins umayyad abbasid maghreb ottoman dirham dinar fals. Within a short period of time, islamic coins replaced all sassanian and byzantine coins in muslim lands. Introduction to islamic coins ancient coins for education. Pdf islamic coins during the umayyad, abbasid, andalusian. Historians estimate the umayyad caliphate had a population of around 62 million people, which was nearly 30% of the worlds. The new coins asserted the oneness of allah and muh.
Generally, islamic coins indicate the place and date of their mint, the name of the ruler, his fathers name, and that of his heirapparent or envoy. At first, even though arabic became the official language and islam the principal religion of the diverse lands unified under umayyad rule, artists continued to work in their established manner. In this case, the design seems to derive from a very rare issue of the hasmonean ruler mattathias antigonus, 4037 bc, depicting a menorah. The umayyad caliphate expanded the islamic empire into one of the largest empires in the history of the world. To these have been added notable rarities in other public and private collections to which i have had access. Probably the earliest dated umayyad coin and one of the very few to show an. Important coins of the islamic world morton and eden. The birth of islamic coinage the orthodox and umayyad caliphate by. These coins are unique in the sense of epigraphy as well as the religious content and not unique with respect to where they were minted. For a much larger selection of islamic coins, visit the american numismatic society database, to which i have provided links here for individual coins that are analogous to the british museum examples.
The umayyad and abbasid empires boundless world history. Silver damma with the word allah, postarab conquest multan, ca. As part of a policy to unify the various regions under islamic rule, caliph abd almalik ibn marwan introduced the first umayyad gold coins in 691ce. Umayyad dynasty, the first great muslim dynasty to rule the empire of the caliphate 661750. Muawiyah ibn abu sufyan was the first umayyad caliph, ruling from 661 to 680. Umayyad caliphate dynasty that ruled the islamic caliphate from the death of the fourth sunni caliph first shii imam, ali, in 661 until 750.
The caliphs will be resented by the soldiers on the frontier for leading non islamic lavish lifestyles. This is a short extract from the full article by wijdan ali phd available here as a pdf file. The book makes use of contemporary islamic coins, graffiti, and other inscribed objects in order to examine the dome of the rock in the relation to the ideological concerns of the umayyad elite during and after the second civil war. The coinage of the early islamic era through the end of the umayyad caliphate a. Islamic armies invaded anatolia and besieged constantinople, but were later forced back to eastern anatolia. The umayyad capital will be damascus and they will govern as arab elite muslims looking down upon nonarab converts known as mawali and using an ethnic arab military and ethnic arab bureaucracy. April 4 has established a new record price for a nonu. Mallonmccorgrays the coins and the history of asia. The umayyad caliphate, which emerged after the rashidun caliphate collapsed, was characterized by hereditary elections and territory expansion.
The banu ummaya constituted the higher stratum of the preislamic meccan elite. The menorah coins belong to a series of late umayyad pictorial coppers drawing their designs from a variety of greek and romanera prototypes. Pdf the umayyad dynastys conversion to islam from the. The cumulative effect of all this is to create a numismatic metalanguage which serves to define islamic coins as islamic and therefore, by extension, also to define non islamic coins as non islamic. The byzantine and sassanid empires relied on money economies before the muslim conquest, and that system remained in effect during the umayyad period. The umayyad caliphate became one of the largest unitary states in history and one of the few states to ever extend direct rule over three continents. Sameer kazmi at the advent of islam, arabia for the most part had a very limited numismatic history of its own. Umayyad and abbasid caliphates compared umayyad caliphate.
A powerful symbol of the new empire was the development of a special islamic coinage. The new islamic currency that was first coin to carry an arabic inscription was called a dinar and was similar, in both size and weight, to the byzantine solidus. Both gold and silver coins bore on the reverse the short legend mohammed is the prophet of allah. As you might expect, most coins of alandalus that reach the market. The umayyad dynastys conversion to islam from the low point until ca. The umayyad caliphate was the second caliphate of islam, a caliphate being an islamic state governed by a supreme religious and political leader, the caliph. To read files in format pdf or djvu, download free program like acrobat reader. Islam the formation of the islamic w orid, sixth to eleventh.
At its peak, the umayyad caliphate controlled the middle east, parts of india, much of north africa, and spain. The umayads were the first muslim dynasty that is, they were the first rulers of the islamic empire to pass down power within their family. Islamic coins during the umayyad, abbasid, andalusian and. Previously, the caliphate had taken over the byzantine and persian mints and produced coins based on their models. The name dinar is also used for sasanid, kushan, and kidarite gold coins, though it is not known what the contemporary name was. This legend had been used on umayyad silver coins as. Islam had been successfully placed at the center of the state, and the byzantines were weak and vulnerable.
Prior to the advent of islam, the umayyads were a largely merchant family of the quraysh tribe centered at mecca. A complete set of umayyad gold dinars and other coins of the islamic world to be sold by auction at. Under abd almalik, completely new coins were made, inscribed with text from the quran, emphasizing that the islamic empire was not a. The umayyads took many features from the territories that they had conquered, but a new islamic culture also slowly began to take form. Byzantine copper coins were used until 658, while byzantine gold coins were still in use until the monetary reforms c. Their coins differed only slightly from those of their precursors, the umayyads. Their reign witnessed the return to leadership roles of the preislamic arab elite, and the rejuvenation of tribal loyalties. The word dinar comes from the latin word denarius, which was a silver coin. Under the dynasties that followed the use of the dinar spread from islamic spain to central asia. According to tradition, the umayyad family also known as the banu abdshams and muhammad both descended from a common ancestor, abd manaf ibn qusai, and they originally came from the. We would like to display the unique islamic coins between 1100 ah 622719 ce. At the same time, the realms new subjects adopted the arabic language and islam. In addition, it will provide information about the islamic banking development in many countries around the world. Umayyad caliphate article about umayyad caliphate by the.
Dec 29, 2015 in english, standard references include albums checkist of islamic coins 2011 and mitchiners world of islam 1977. In 750 ad the abbasids overthrew the umayyad dynasty and erected their own abbasid caliphate. During the reign of umayyad caliph abdel malek ibn marawan, a movement to mint dinars using the bronze coins of the byzantine empire coins depicting hercules and his children was started in 684 a. Umayyad gold dinars first minted between ad 696697, this piece is an early example of a purely islamic coin, replacing pictorial depictions with arabic inscriptions taken from the quran. When a new caliph came to power, he had a new coin struck in his name to make the change of rule official. To access the full database of over 5 million records, please consult coinarchives pro. Slowly, the lands of the muslim empire took on more elements of arab culture.
And once ensconced in power, the umayyad caliphate ended the election of caliphs by consensus and established instead a hereditary principle of succession. The past local coinage seems to be limited to that of the sabaeans, the himyarites, the nabataens, and romes provencia arabia. The language of the court, the civil service, and the religious class was arabic, but the realm was administered according to principles adopted from the. The center of the umayyad caliphate was damascus, where the caliph resided. Under abd almaliks son and successor, alwalid, the umayyad state expanded even more. The dome of the rock and its umayyad mosaic inscriptions on jstor. Its founder was muawiyah ibn abi sufyan of the meccan clan of umayyah. Extremely rare and pictured in fishmantodd the silver damma book. The umayyad post reform silver dirhams had mostly consistent field.
Having taken north africa from the byzantines, islamic forces began the invasion of western europe. In 661, the umayyads moved their capital to damascus, syria. Another very rich resource for silk road coinage is t. The abbasids were the third caliphate dynasty of the islamic empire. Volume i, the formation of the islamic world, sixth to eleventh centuries. All coins from the umayyad caliphate, presented with pictures, descriptions and more useful information. It was also said that misab bin zubayr struck a few islamic coins during the reign of his brother abd allah bin zubayr and that these were taken out of circulation during the reign of abd almalik, but the truth is that abd almalik was the first to strike islamic coins. Islamic coins during the umayyad, abbasid, andalusian and fatimid dynasties comparison between muslim and christian coin inscriptions. Umayyad coins 661750ce muslim heritagemuslim heritage. List of books and articles about umayyad caliphate online. Pdf the umayyad dynastys conversion to islam from the low. Muhammed was born around 570 ad to a family of the quraysh clan, the ruling tribe of mecca, an important trading city in northwestern arabia. The development of islamic coins started in earnest during the reign of this caliph. While it is not necessary or generally practical to formally study islam or the arabic language in order to identify a coin as.
The umayyad period is often considered the formative period in islamic art. Dec 28, 2019 muawiya 661 680 founded the umayyad caliphate. Development of the islamic banking system ahmad alharbi1 abstract this paper will illustrate the historical development of islamic banking industry. A complete set of umayyad gold dinars and other coins of. T his is the first of a projected series of contributions in which it is proposed to describe inedited and rare islamic coins for the most part in the museum of the american numismatic society. Coins without illustrations islamic money moneymuseum. Five highly important early islamic coins lots 1 5.