Dinar of Al-Walid

Artists

Description

The creation of coinage bearing only inscriptions at the turn of the seventh century signals the unprecedented stature that Arabic calligraphy acquired, as the script itself became a symbol of the faith. The Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik (r. 685–705) declared Arabic the administrative language of the Islamic polity and revolutionized the appearance of Islamic coinage, replacing figural imagery with epigraphy. The text included a variant on the Muslim profession of faith and verses from the Qurʾan to refute the Christian Trinity. The coins reflect the increasing centrality of the Qurʾan as a source of authority and Muslim identity, and the caliph’s imperial ambition of confronting the Christian empire of Byzantium. This coin is dated 90 H. (708-709).

Dimensions

4.25 g

Provenance

Thomas Whittemore, Cambridge, MA, (by 1951), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951.