Earliest Dinar & Dirham Coins

After three decades of varying forms of hybrid coins, in the year 77 H [696AD] the first Umayyad gold dinar was struck, heralding the birth of a new purely Islamic coinage. These marked a shift in design, showing no imagery as the earlier coins did - just clear and simple quotations from the Quran. In contrast to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, these coins were engraved with words that emphasise the oneness of God, such as "There is no God but God", in Arabic script.

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan’s introduction of a single, unified and distinctive Islamic gold coinage has rightly been seen as a landmark in the early history of Islam. The gold dinar is beautiful in its striking simplicity, and is obviously and uncompromisingly Islamic.

The new Qur'anic-inscribed dinar coins became the standard coinage produced under the Ummayad rule. This style of coin was not changed until after the fall of the Caliphate in 749AD, although many of the inscriptions that Caliph Abd al-Malik introduced were also found on the later coins issued under the Abbasid Caliphate nearly six centuries later. Coins from the early Islamic period can still be found throughout the world

To be continued in-shaa-Allah

Ihyaa-us-Sunnah | Revival of Sunnah