Silver Mahallak - Muhammad ibn 'Ali

The Emirate of Harar produced these tiny fractional pieces under Amir Muhammad ibn 'Ali, who ruled from 1856 until the Egyptian annexation of the city in 1875. Harar's coinage is among the least-documented in the Islamic world — struck in a walled city-state that had been closed to non-Muslims for centuries, only opened to outsiders after Richard Burton's covert entry in 1855. The billon examples almost certainly reflect local silver supply constraints rather than deliberate debasement policy.