Obverse. Photo © NumisBids
  • 1 Dinar 883 AD, Album# 661, Egypt, Al-Mu'tamid, Ahmad ibn Tulun
  • 1 Dinar 883 AD, Album# 661, Egypt, Al-Mu'tamid, Ahmad ibn Tulun
Description

The Abbasid Caliphate (Arabic: الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from the prophet's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH). The Abbasid Caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, modern-day Iraq, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, near the ancient Babylonian capital city of Babylon. Baghdad became the center of science, culture and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

Abu’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar (c. 842–892), better known by his regnal name Al-Muʿtamid ʿalā ’llāh ("Dependent on God"), was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 to 892. His reign marks the end of the "Anarchy at Samarra" and the start of the Abbasid restoration, but he was largely a ruler in name only. Power was held by his brother al-Muwaffaq, who held the loyalty of the military. Al-Mu'tamid's authority was circumscribed further after a failed attempt to flee to the domains controlled by Ahmad ibn Tulun in late 882, and he was placed under house arrest by his brother. In 891, when al-Muwaffaq died, loyalists attempted to restore power to the Caliph but were quickly overcome by al-Muwaffaq's son al-Mu'tadid, who assumed his father's powers. When al-Mu'tamid died in 892, al-Mu'tadid succeeded him as caliph.

The Tulunids, were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority of the Abbasid Caliphate, to 905, when the Abbasids restored the Tulunid domains to their control.

Obverse

Depicts the inscriptions in Arabic "For God", "Muhammad is the Messenger of God”, "Ahmad ibn Tulun" and “He sent him with guidance and the true religion to make it victorious over every religion although those who associate others with God dislike it.”

Ahmad ibn Tulun (835–884) was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. Originally a Turkic slave-soldier, in 868 Ibn Tulun was sent to Egypt as governor by the Abbasid caliph. Within four years Ibn Tulun had established himself as a virtually independent ruler by evicting the caliphal fiscal agent, Ibn al-Mudabbir, taking over control of Egypt's finances, and establishing a large military force personally loyal to himself. This process was facilitated by the volatile political situation in the Abbasid court and the preoccupation of the Abbasid regent, al-Muwaffaq, with the wars against the Saffarids and the Zanj Rebellion. Ibn Tulun also took care to establish an efficient administration in Egypt. After reforms to the tax system, repairs to the irrigation system, and other measures, the annual tax yield grew markedly. As a symbol of his new regime, he built a new capital, al-Qata'i, north of the old capital Fustat.

لله
محمد
رسول
الله
احمد بن طولون
محمد رسول الله ارسله بالهدى ودين الحق ليظهره على الدين كله ولو كره المشركون

Reverse

Depicts the inscriptions in Arabic “There is no god but God alone / He has no associate", "al-Mufawwid ila-llah" (Future Caliph), "To God belongs the command before and after, and at that time the believers will rejoice in the victory of God" and "In the name of God. This dinar was struck in Misr (Egypt) in the year 270."

Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tamid, better known by his laqab al-Mufawwid ila-llah (lit. 'The One Deferring to God'), was a son of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tamid and heir-apparent of the Caliphate from 875 until his sidelining by his cousin al-Mu'tadid in 891.

لا اله الا
الله وحده
لا شريك له
المفوض الى الله
لله الأمر من قبل و من بعد و يومئذ يفرح المؤمنون بنصر الله
بسم الله ضرب هذا الدينار بمصر سنة سبعين و مئتين

Edge
Characteristics
Material Gold
Fineness 0.833
Weight 4.13 g
Diameter 22 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Misr Mint

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