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Dinar of Al-Walid
View through Harvard Museums
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).
Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art
Thomas Whittemore Cambridge MA (by 1951) bequest; to Fogg Art Museum 1951.
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum Bequest of Thomas Whittemore
Title: Dinar of Al-Walid
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).