Dirham - Anonymous Wasit

The anonymous Wasit dirham belongs to the reformed coinage introduced by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and his governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, who founded Wasit as a garrison city in Iraq around 702 specifically to consolidate Umayyad military control over a restive province. The monetary reform that produced this type deliberately purged all figural imagery in favor of Quranic inscriptions — a sharp break from the Sasanian-derived dirhams that preceded it. Al-Hajjaj ran the Wasit mint aggressively; the city did not yet exist when this series began.

The XRF-confirmed silver fineness of 96.33% is notably high and broadly consistent with the rigorous weight and purity standards al-Hajjaj enforced, sometimes under penalty of death for counterfeiters.