Obverse. Photo © NumisBids
  • 1 Dinar 883-891 AD, Album# 664.1, Egypt, Al-Mu'tamid, Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun
  • 1 Dinar 883-891 AD, Album# 664.1, Egypt, Al-Mu'tamid, Khumarawayh ibn 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”, "al-Muʿtamid ʿala ’llah" (Caliph), "Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad" 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.”

Abu 'l-Jaysh Khumārawayh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn (864–896) was a son of the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, Ahmad ibn Tulun. His father, the autonomous ruler of Egypt and Syria, designated him as his successor. When Ibn Tulun died in May 884, Khumarawayh succeeded him. After defeating an attempt to depose him, in 886 he managed to gain recognition of his rule over Egypt and Syria as a hereditary governor from the Abbasid Caliphate. In 893 the agreement was renewed with the new Abbasid Caliph, al-Mu'tadid, and sealed with the marriage of his daughter Qatr al-Nada to the Caliph.

At the height of his power, Khumarawayh's authority expanded from the Byzantine frontier in Cilicia and the Jazira to Nubia. Domestically, his reign was marked by a prodigal squandering of funds on extravagant displays of wealth, construction of palaces, and the patronage of artists and poets. In combination with the need to maintain a sizeable professional army and guarantee its loyalty through rich gifts, this emptied the treasury by the end of his reign. Khumarawayh was murdered by a palace servant in 896, and was succeeded by his son Jaysh, who was deposed after a few months in favour of another son, Harun ibn Khumarawayh. The Tulunid state entered a period of turmoil and weakness, which culminated in its reconquest by the Abbasids in 904–905.

لله
محمد
رسول
الله
المعتمد على الله
خمارويه بن أحمد
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 273."

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 ثلث و سبعين و مئتين

Edge
Characteristics
Material Gold
Fineness 0.833
Weight 4.14 g
Diameter 22 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Misr Mint

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