As an enthusiast of early caliphate history I like to discuss the life of the founder of Umayyad caliphate Muawiya I. Muawiya was born into Umayyad clan his father was a rich and prominent member of the ruling class in pre-Islamic arabia. He controlled all incomes and trades on the silk road going to Arabia. When Muhammad started preaching new religion , the prominent Umayyads were his main opponents. They tortured and killed many early muslims and supporters of Muhammad. Mua'wiya's father Abu sufyan is considered as Muhammad number one enemy of the time. However, Muhammad support grew and his army was able to conquer mecca where Umayyad resided. After the conquest , Umayyads ask for mercy and Muhammad forgave them and accepted them to convert to Islam. Abu sufyan told his son Mua'wiya that now the old fashion objection is not working and best policy would be to attack the new religion from within by infiltrating in it and change its core values in the society. after Muhammad death 4 caliphs were chosen to lead muslims. these early 4 caliphs were pious men who were close companions of Muhammad. The third caliph called Uthman however, was from Umayyad clan and he granted his clan members a great power and appointed them as governors including Mua'wiya who was appointed as governor of the Syrian province which was conquered recently from byzantine empire. Mua'wiya used this opportunity to greatly expand his power base in Syria and when opposition grew against Uthman unjust policies , the rioters attacked Uthman house and killed him . The muslims at this time decided to appoint Ali (who was a very close companion of Muhammad and his cousin ) as the 4th caliph. Ali however, was very just ruler and wanted to revive the just policies of Muhammad . He ordered Mua'wiya to resign from governorship of Syria however, Mua'wiya started a propaganda against him in Syria and introduced Ali as enemy of islam and killer of the 3rd caliph. He asked for revenge for Uthman blood and war with Ali. The two armies fought a battle called Siffin where Ali almost won . At this point Mua'wiya used a trick by putting the holy books into the spears and asking muslims to stop the fight and judge by the holy book. This trick worked well for him and a huge number of Ali's army forced him to stop the civil war against Mua'wiya and eventually assassinating Ali. After Ali assassination Mua'wiya became the sole contender for the position of caliph. He founded the Umayyad dynasty and for first time in islam history he decided to appoint his son yazid I as the next caliph this grew a lot of opposition as the previous caliphs were chosen by a counsel of senior companions of Muhammad and they saw Mua'wiya action as a step toward changing caliphate into kingdom. However, Mua'wiya was a very cunning man. he started to force the older and leaders of community by bribes or threat to agree on his decision of appointing Yazid as caliph. Mua'wiya was first caliph who put his name with the title of "Commander of faithful" on Arab-Sasanian coins. He is one of the cursed figures in Shia doctrine of islam due to his animosity toward Ali and his sons. Even today shia curse him in their prayers. The coins which has Mua'wiya name and title as "Commander of faithful" are rare IMO. I was lucky to get one from Tim Wilke one of the previous dealers in VCoins. The coin has the name and title of Mua'wiya in Pahlavi Sasanian script. Please share your related coins of Mua'wiya or Umayyad or Arab-Sasanian which are relevant.
Nice coin. I studied the early caliphate extensively in my Islamic History class in college taught by the period expert Ira Lapidus. I don't have any Arab-Sassanian coins yet.
@Erhan, that's an interesting writeup. I have SIC Ashmolean volume 1 and the OP coin seems to be 245-6 with "frozen year 43" even though it was actually struck c. AH 54-55. I have one of the next Calif, Ubad Allah b. Ziyad, AH 55-67, struck year 61 = 680/1 AD. SIC Ashmolean volume 1, 83, AH 61. 33 mm. 4.16 grams. ex Malter auction XXVII (June 10, 1984) lot 177.
Interesting post (thank you!) and a great example of Album-14. Which I lack, sadly! Here's my earliest Islamic coin, a rare Arab-Byzantine issue dated to the 640s or 650s (Album 3508X), right in that turbulent period you've written about. It's overstruck on half of a Byzantine follis: Here's my Arab-Byzantine issued under Mu'awiyah, in Hims (Emesa): My earliest Arab-Sasanian is a coin of Ziyad from c. 670 (under Mu'awiyah), the father of the issuer of @Valentinian's coin: Ziyad was rumored to be Abu Sufyan's son and so possibly Mu'awiyah's half brother. He originally fought for Ali, but switched sides when the writing was on the wall. This coin was issued when Ziyad suppressed the Aliid rebellion in Kufa and added that city to his governorship. (In 671, Ziyad sent 50,000 troops to Merv, the basis for the eventual subjection of territories in central Asia. The turco-hephthalite countermarks were probably added after this coin was taken east by Ziyad's troops.) (@Valentinian: I don't think Ziyad's son was ever declared Caliph. He inherited the eastern governorship from his father, and helped wipe out the Aliids. Are you maybe thinking of Abd Allah ibn Zubayr?) The Aliids kept soldiering on. Here's a coin issued by one of them ('Abd Allah b. Mu'awiya, the great grandson of Ali's brother) during the Abbasid revolution, dated 129 AH( 746-47), Album 206.1: The Umayyads defeated him in battle, and then the Abbasids executed him. Those Aliids just couldn't catch a break!
Thinking? What's that? No, I just figured from the dates he was the next guy. I guess I should not have said "calif." I know some things about ancient coins, but little about Arabic coins. I defer to the experts.
It's good to know that even brilliant minds sometimes take a break! That I am certainly not! Islamic coins are tough. I've tried to learn Kufic script a bit but I keep having to haul out my Arabic Coins and How to Read Them (Plant) every time. I sure wish the Album catalogue had photos. (Zeno is helpful though.)
After the first years of unity in Islam, the new religion, division set in fast and this resulted in conflicts that are still very severe nowadays: between Shiites and Sunnis. Shiites are adherents of Ali and they don't think at all Muawiya was a villain. This is arguably the first original islamic design, not based on Byzantine or Sasanian examples. It's from the first coinage reform of caliph Abd al-Malik (about 693-697 AD; the second provided us with the all-text dinars and dirhams in 699). For a long time I put off buying a Standing Caliph type (not having a belligerent character), but now I did. On the left you see the caliph with a sword wearing an embroidered cloak. The reverse shows a pole with a circle on it on three steps, it is a parody of the Christian cross and shows that these coins were based on comparable Byzantine types. On Zeno you can check the Arabic text on the coin. AE fals Umayyads, Arab-Byzantine Standing Caliph Type. Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan 685-705. Halab (Aleppo) mint, prob. 693-697. 21 mm, 2.46 gr. Album 3529 (p. 37), SICA I, 615-625.
This is a rare Arabo-Sasanian copper coin of a later date, possibly 744 AD. It was issued not long before the end of the Umayyad dynasty. Arab-Sasanian AE pashiz. Anonymous, Tabaristan, year 93 (PYE = Post Yazdgard Era, =744 AD?). Obv. Sasanian style bust right with text May Xvarrah Increase. Rev. 2-line Pahlavi text: 93 / Tabaristan. 15 mm, 1.11g. Album 48.2.
Arab-Sasanian coins are really interesting, there's some interesting types that were issued before all of the Islamic mints settled on the practical but monotonous text-only coins we all know and love. This bronze pashiz was issued in Bishapur c.690s-710 AD (c. 71-92 AH) and features a reverse from Persian mythology of a creature called a Gopadshah: And this drachm was issued in Sakastan c. 780 AD (c.164 AH) in the name of Salih 'Imad (presumably a local governor, but otherwise unknown to history) and is one of the last Arab-Sasanian types:
It seems like after the 7th century the coins become increasingly textual due to the Muslim ban on graven images. And there is standardization around the phrase "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his messenger."
