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Dirham - Anonymous Herat
| Issuer | Umayyad Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 79-99 (698-718) |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dinar (661-750) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic (Kufic) |
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| Reverse description | Central field displays three lines of Kufic Arabic text comprising Surah Al-Ikhlas (Quran 112): 'Allah is One, Allah is Eternal, He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none comparable unto Him.' A circular marginal legend surrounds the central inscription, containing the Prophetic mission verse (Quran 9:33): 'Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religions, even if the polytheists dislike it.' The script is early angular Kufic, consistent with the reformed aniconic coinage standardized under the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik. The flat, unornamented field and the full epigraphic composition reflect the canonical Umayyad dirham design that replaced earlier Sasanian-influenced types. The flan is irregular and slightly uneven, typical of hammered provincial mint production. |
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| Additional information |
The anonymous Herat dirhams fall within the period of Abd al-Malik's sweeping monetary reform, which abolished the old Sasanian-derived imagery and replaced it with purely epigraphic designs — a politically charged decision that standardized coinage across a caliphate stretching from Iberia to Central Asia. Herat, sitting at a key node of Khorasan trade routes, was one of several eastern mints brought into this new framework, though attribution of specific pieces to the mint remains dependent on mint name placement and script variants rather than any centralized die control.
The weight here sits noticeably below the reformed standard of roughly 2.97 g, which was itself derived from the theoretical Islamic mithqal.