Ancient African Gold

It's a biblical quote (Matthew 7:6): "... do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces". Seemed appropriate somehow.

 

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WOW, now that is a cool coin! i didn't know there were axum gold coin! i've seen the bimetalic coins you guys have...those are just awesome as well...and high on my list.

great write up as well AN, congrats on this fatalistic pick up!

 

Awesome! I found some more information coming from Munro-Hay indicating the scarcity of Axumite gold coins. He notes with this find it tripled the number of known gold coins of Axum.

http://archaeology.about.com/od/ironage/ig/The-Royal-Tombs-of-Aksum/Gold-Coins-of-Aksum--Ezanas.htm

 

In a letter from Muhammad to Negus, king of Axum, Muhammad invites Negus and his men to follow his message and believe in Allah. When this letter was presented to Negus, he took the parchment and placed it on his eye, descended to the floor, confessed his faith in Islam. He then responded to Muhammad acknowledging him as the Messenger of Allah and surrendering himself "through him to the Lord of the worlds."

Islamic scholar al-Nawawi wrote in his "Commentary on Sahih Muslim" that Imam Shafi`i and those who agree to his doctrine in fiqh see in this hadith a proof for praying in absence over a dead Muslim. There is in the hadith an evident miracle of the Prophet's due to his proclamation of the Negus's death on the same day that the latter died in Axum. There is also in the hadith the desirability of proclaiming the death of someone, but not in the pre-Islamic fashion which means to glorify and so forth.

Muhammad had asked the Negus to send Jeeb far and his companions, the emigrants to Axum, back home. They came back to see Muhammad in Khaibar. Negus later died in Rajab 9, A.H. shortly after the Ghazwa of Tabuk. Muhammad announced his death and observed prayer in absentia for him.

 

@dltsrq Quite! The swine were there to point to a certain biblical direction. But those margaritas, my dictionary translates them as palm trees, and then I got all confused.

 

Wow Noob => that's an awesome lil' goldie addition (congrats) ... very cool

 

Man, that's a sweet gold coin Master Noob!

 

Great coin AN

 

Just happened across this piece, which seems relevant to this thread:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/1.703466