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<p>[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 4528767, member: 96898"]Thanks for the kind comments and for posting your coins, everyone!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks so much for your help with the legend! I honestly had kind of despaired when trying to decipher especially the last word of the reverse legend. For some reason, I had read the initial character as a nun and thus was on the completely wrong path, but now I see that it is a tha – and "tha–kha–shin" is Muhammad's father Tekish, of course!</p><p><br /></p><p>I find it quite interesting that your third coin cites the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir, though the Mongols by that time were not primarily Muslim. In fact, as [USER=87200]@ancient coin hunter[/USER] pointed out above, Genghis' grandson Hulagu Khan didn't hesitate to execute the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim in 1258 after the sack of Baghdad. Al-Musta'sim is cited on this coin minted by the Ayyubid prince Al-Nasir Yusuf, who in 1260 was also defeated and subsequently executed by Hulagu:</p><p><font size="3">[ATTACH=full]1121725[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><font size="3">Ayyubids of Aleppo, under al-Nasir Yusuf II (“al-Nasir Yusuf II”), AR dirham, 1250–1259 AD, Dimashq (Damascus mint). Obv: regent’s title in square: “al-malik al-nasir / salah ad-din yusuf / ?”; circle with partial legend around. Rev: title of caliph al-Musta‘sim in square: “al-imam al-musta'sim / billah abu ahmad / amir al-mu'minin,” circle with partial legend around. Ref: Album 843.1. 23mm, 2.7g.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="4">Yet, though Hulagu Khan wasn't a Muslim and had just killed the politico-religious head of this faith, he also had no problem to mint coins in the Islamic tradition showing the kalima (creed) on the reverse, probably in an attempt to make them more acceptable to his Muslim subjects. This illustrates the remarkable pragmatism of the Mongols when it came to religious matters:</font></font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="4">[ATTACH=full]1121726[/ATTACH] </font></font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="4"><font size="3">Ilkhanate, under Hulagu (possibly a posthumous issue), AR dirham, ca. 1261–1265 AD (659–663 AH; also struck posthumously until c. 1281 AD/ 679 AH), Mardin mint (?). Obv: "qa'an/ al-'azam/ hulagu ilkhan/ al-mu'azam;" in margin, fragmentary mint and date formula. Rev: kalima: "la ilah illa allah/ wahdahu la sharikalahu/ muhammad rasul allah;" in margin, fragmentary Qu'ran 3:26. 22.5mm, 2.69g. Ref: Album 2122.2.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="3"></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 4528767, member: 96898"]Thanks for the kind comments and for posting your coins, everyone! Thanks so much for your help with the legend! I honestly had kind of despaired when trying to decipher especially the last word of the reverse legend. For some reason, I had read the initial character as a nun and thus was on the completely wrong path, but now I see that it is a tha – and "tha–kha–shin" is Muhammad's father Tekish, of course! I find it quite interesting that your third coin cites the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir, though the Mongols by that time were not primarily Muslim. In fact, as [USER=87200]@ancient coin hunter[/USER] pointed out above, Genghis' grandson Hulagu Khan didn't hesitate to execute the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim in 1258 after the sack of Baghdad. Al-Musta'sim is cited on this coin minted by the Ayyubid prince Al-Nasir Yusuf, who in 1260 was also defeated and subsequently executed by Hulagu: [SIZE=3][ATTACH=full]1121725[/ATTACH] Ayyubids of Aleppo, under al-Nasir Yusuf II (“al-Nasir Yusuf II”), AR dirham, 1250–1259 AD, Dimashq (Damascus mint). Obv: regent’s title in square: “al-malik al-nasir / salah ad-din yusuf / ?”; circle with partial legend around. Rev: title of caliph al-Musta‘sim in square: “al-imam al-musta'sim / billah abu ahmad / amir al-mu'minin,” circle with partial legend around. Ref: Album 843.1. 23mm, 2.7g. [SIZE=4]Yet, though Hulagu Khan wasn't a Muslim and had just killed the politico-religious head of this faith, he also had no problem to mint coins in the Islamic tradition showing the kalima (creed) on the reverse, probably in an attempt to make them more acceptable to his Muslim subjects. This illustrates the remarkable pragmatism of the Mongols when it came to religious matters:[/SIZE][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][SIZE=4][ATTACH=full]1121726[/ATTACH] [/SIZE][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][SIZE=4][SIZE=3]Ilkhanate, under Hulagu (possibly a posthumous issue), AR dirham, ca. 1261–1265 AD (659–663 AH; also struck posthumously until c. 1281 AD/ 679 AH), Mardin mint (?). Obv: "qa'an/ al-'azam/ hulagu ilkhan/ al-mu'azam;" in margin, fragmentary mint and date formula. Rev: kalima: "la ilah illa allah/ wahdahu la sharikalahu/ muhammad rasul allah;" in margin, fragmentary Qu'ran 3:26. 22.5mm, 2.69g. Ref: Album 2122.2.[/SIZE][/SIZE] [/SIZE][/QUOTE]
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