Introduction to Islamic Coins

Don't miss out collecting these beautiful and intriguing coins

Most of us hang out in familiar territory. It’s our human nature. We rarely venture into obscure regions because our comfort zones are, well, too comfortable. But, instead of assembling your third set of Jefferson nickels, or trading AUs for VFs in your Lincoln Memorial cents, why not strike out for parts unknown: Islamic coinage?

Check out this half dirham from Morocco. Very cool. Very artistic. We Westerners don’t understand the writing, but at least the date is readable! The year 1299 was a long time ago, but the coin looks too modern to be that old. Ah … that’s our first lesson.

Islamic Hijri Calendar - The prophet Muhammad founded the Islamic religion. He was born (approximately) in 570AD (also designated 570CE). That’s 570 years after Jesus was born. Muhammad and his followers moved from Mecca to Medina in the year 622AD, and that’s when the Islamic Hijri calendar begins.

The 1299 date on the Moroccan half dirham is a Hijri date, written AH1299. Using this date converter, AH1299 is the same as 1882AD. The half dirham, then, is only 140 years old, not 723 years old. Converting these dates is a complicated matter, because Western (Gregorian) dates are based on the movement of the Earth around the sun, and Islamic dates are based on the movement of the moon around the Earth.

Compared to the other two monotheistic world religions, Judaism (Hebrew religion) and Christianity, Islam is relatively new. The timeline shows its start around 600AD, while Judaism started with the Bible’s Abraham around 2000BC (also designated 2000BCE). Christianity started with Jesus Christ at the year zero. Ancient Egypt beats them all, dating back past 3000BC. With the arrival of metallurgy and a mixture of gold and silver called electrum, coin collecting started about 500BC.

Eastern Arabic Numerals - You can’t miss it on the Moroccan half dirham: it hits you square between the eyes with year AH1299. But most of the time it is not easy to find the date on an Islamic coin. Consider this gorgeous Saudi Arabian one guinea gold coin. There are no recognizable numerals on it. So, when was it minted? Clearly, it was AH1370, which is the same as 1950AD.

That’s only clear if you can read eastern Arabic numerals. Careful scrutiny of most Islamic coins reveals four numerals showing the Hijri date. You can also see the denomination, 1 guinea, between the palm trees. Palm trees and crossed swords generally grace coins from Saudi Arabia.

You are now equipped to read date and denomination on these two Egyptian 20 piastre coins. Any questions? Once you know eastern Arabic numerals, it’s easy. The country of origin appears through falcon, sphinx, and wing patterns.

Islamic Locations - The table below shows Islamic locations pertinent to coin collecting. This Wikipedia page gives and exhaustive list of all Islamic locations in the world, but we narrowed it down to places with coins that look similar to those discussed here, namely, with Arabic-style inscriptions and recognizable devices indicating the country of origin.

Assembling a collection of coins from these locations, even with only one example per location, would be a hefty numismatic challenge. We’ll take a look at some representative specimens.

Early Coinage - Advanced collecting skills are needed to identify, authenticate, and evaluate Islamic coins from the first few hundred years on the Hijri calendar, but you can pick out a few notable characteristics.

The inscriptions on most of these coins contain the Shahada, an Islamic oath and creed "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." You can plainly see the start of the Shahada on the top line of the Samanid fals and the Umayyad dinar. Get to know this writing. Even if you can’t read anything else, this inscription is easily recognizable and says for certain that the coin is Islamic.

The bust on the Rashidun drachm is that of a Persian king, which is usually designated a Khosrau-style bust for numismatic identification. The reverse shows an altar with a burning fire flanked by two attendants.

Concentric circles with Arabic inscriptions usually indicate the Fatimid Caliphate.

Mughal and Ottoman Coinage - Coins from the Mughal and Ottoman Empires are easier to figure out than the early caliphate coinage above. That’s because Mughal and Ottoman coins are more modern and more recognizable.

Can you make out the Hijri dates on the Mughal gold mohur and the Ottoman silver piastra in the picture above? The mohur is dated AH1079 (1668AD) and the piastra is dated AH1187 (1773AD).

Coins from modern Islamic countries - We close out this article with images of nine coins from modern Islamic countries. These nine are representative, but, of course, do not come close to spanning the breadth of these fascinating, and very collectible, coins