ISLAMIC, al-Maghreb (North Africa). Almohads (al-Muwahhidun). Abu Ya'qub Yusuf I, AH 558-580 / AD 1163-1184. 1/2 Dinar (Gold, 21 mm, 2.31 g, 12 h), citing Abu Ya'qub Yusuf I and Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAli (AH 524-558 / AD 1130-1163) as overlord, without mint and date, Struck after AH 563 / AD 1167/8. Within a central square, ‘bism Allāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm / lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / al-Mahdī imām al-umma’ (‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Al-Mahdi is the Imam of the [Islamic] community’ in Arabic); around, ‘wa ilāhukum / ilāh wāḥid / lā ilāha illā huwa / al-raḥmān al-raḥīm’ (‘And your God is One God; there is no God save Him, the Beneficent, the Merciful’ in Arabic; Qurʾān 2: 163); all within a circle.
Rev. Within a central square, ‘al-Qāʾim bi amr Allāh / al-khalīfa Abū Muḥammad / ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘The Riser by the Command of Allah, the Caliph Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al-Muʾmin son of ʿAli, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); around, ‘amīr al-muʾminīn / Abū Yaʿqūb / Yūsuf ibn / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘Commander of the Believers Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf son of the Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); all within a circle. Album 483. Fresh and attractive. The flan slightly wavy and with a minor edge crack
, otherwise, extremely fine.
From a European collection, formed before 2005.
This issue was struck after AH 563 / AD 1167/8, when Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf I acquired the title ‘amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic).
