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Dinar - al-Saffah
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 750-754 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.23 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له |
| Reverse description | Central field displays a three-line Kufic inscription identifying the mint, date, and the phrase 'Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.' A circular marginal legend in Kufic script runs within a beaded border, completing the Quranic citation begun on the obverse (Quran 9:33). The reverse follows the standard reformed Umayyad-derived dinar format adopted by the early Abbasids, with all ornamentation replaced by pure epigraphy. |
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| Additional information |
Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah founded the Abbasid Caliphate after the 750 overthrow of the Umayyads, and his gold dinars reflect the immediate ideological break — Umayyad figural tendencies were already long gone from Islamic coinage, but the new dynasty used the mint output to project theological legitimacy at a moment when the regime was still physically eliminating Umayyad survivors. Al-Saffah ruled fewer than four years before dying of smallpox in 754, making his issues among the shortest-reigned of any Abbasid caliph.
The brevity of that reign keeps certified examples genuinely scarce relative to his successors.