Coin
New York, United States of America
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dated Hegira 79/ AD 698–99
Coin
99.35.2386
Gold
Umayyad
Syria
The first Muslim rulers relied on older Byzantine and Sasanian mints to keep a constant supply of coinage in the newly converted lands. Modifications to older types occurred gradually over the first century of Islam. Crosses on Byzantine-style gold coins, for example, were the first visual elements to disappear. ‘Abd al-Malik’s gold reform in 696–97 resulted in totally new coin styles without figural imagery of any kind. Instead, coins like this one made during his reign feature the shahada (profession of the faith) in stately kufic script: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898
"Coin" in Explore Islamic Art Collections , Museum With No Frontiers, 2018. http://www.museumwnf.org/thematicgallery/thg_galleries/database_item.php?itemId=objects;EPM;us;Mus23;4;en&id=calligraphy
MWNF Working Number: US3 04