The Middle East

Dirham and dinar: the coins of the caliphs

For centuries the silver dirham and the gold dinar were the main coins of the Islamic world. The names go back to the Greek drachm and the Roman denarius. From the end of the 7th century, Islamic coins were as a rule purely epigraphic: instead of portraits they carry Arabic inscriptions with religious formulas, the name of the mint and the year in the Islamic Hijri calendar. Many coins also name the caliph, ruler or governor, which makes them important historical sources. The category is divided into gold coins and silver coins.

The category spans more than a thousand years, from 8th-century Abbasid dirhams to an Egyptian silver coin of 1923. Along the way the same coin names lived on while rulers changed: the dirham and the dinar were used by caliphs, sultans and local dynasties from Spain in the west to Iran in the east, before Ottoman kurush and para and Egyptian piastres took over.

Which dynasties are represented?

• The Abbasid Caliphate (from 750, with Baghdad as its capital from the 760s): dirhams of Harun al-Rashid, lots of 8th-century dirhams and a gold dinar of al-Mu’tamid struck in San‘a in Yemen. Hemidrachms from Tabaristan by the Caspian Sea, struck under Abbasid governors, still follow the older Persian style with a royal bust, a fire altar and Pahlavi script.
• The Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171, from 969 based in Cairo): a half dirham of al-‘Aziz and gold dinars of al-Mustansir and al-Amir. Many Fatimid dinars have their legends arranged in concentric circles.
• The Almohads of North Africa and Spain, known for their anonymous square silver dirhams.
• The Zaydi imams of Yemen: a dirham of the Rassid line dated 1230/1.
• The Ilkhanate, the Mongol dynasty in Iran: a double dirham of Ghazan Mahmud, who converted to Islam.
• The Ottoman Empire: a gold sultani of Selim II (1566–1574) and silver of Mahmud II from the 1830s.
• Modern coins: 10 piastres from the Kingdom of Egypt under Fuad I (1923) and a rupee of Amir Sher Ali of Afghanistan (1865).

How do you read the date on an Islamic coin?

The Hijri calendar counts from the Prophet’s emigration to Medina in 622 AD, and dates are marked AH (anno Hegirae). Because the Islamic year is lunar and about eleven days shorter than the solar year, one AH year usually spans two Western years – which is why coins are often dated as, for example, 891/2 AD. On early dirhams the date is written out in Arabic words. Ottoman coins of the 19th century usually show the sultan’s accession year together with a regnal year, so the date on the coin is not the year of striking.

What do collectors look for?

Since the inscriptions carry the information, a legible mint name and date are essential. Weak striking at the edges, slight clipping and marks from circulation are common on dirhams, and some gold coins have been mounted as jewellery; such details are stated in each description, together with the weight. Condition, the rarity of the mint and year, and the historical interest of the ruler all affect the price. Lots of several Abbasid dirhams are an affordable way into the field.