ISLAMIC, Persia (Post-Seljuk). Assassins at Alamut (Batinid). Muhammad I, AH 532-557 / AD 1138-1162. 1/4 Dinar (Gold, 16 mm, 1.07 g, 12 h), Kursi al-Daylam (Alamut), AH 538 = 1143/4. Within a circle, ‘lā ilāha / illā Allāh / Muḥammad / rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic); to right and left, ‘Muḥammad ibn – Buzurkumīd’ (‘Muhammad son of Buzurgumīd’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi Kursī al-Daylam sana thamān wa thalāthīn wa khamsa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dinar was struck in Kursi al-Daylam in the year 538’ in Arabic). Rev. Citing the first Shiʿa Imam, ʿAli, and the long-deceased rebel Fatimid caliph Nizar (AH 487-488 / AD 1094-1095) within a circle, ‘ʿAlī walī Allāh / al-Muṣṭafā / li-Dīn Allāh / Nizār’ (‘Ali is the friend of Allah. al-Mustafa li-Din Allah Nizar’ in Arabic); continued in the margin, ‘amīr al-muʾminīn ṣalawāt Allāh ʿalayh wa ʿalā ābāʾihī al-ṭāhirīn wa abnāʾihī al-akramīn’ (‘Commander of the Believers. May the blessings of Allah be upon him and his fathers, the pure, and his sons, the noblest’ in Arabic). Album 1918. Very rare and of great historical interest. An attractive example of this important issue. Light areas of weakness, otherwise, very fine.



With their headquarter located north of Qazwin in the secluded Alborz mountains at a place known as Kursi al-Daylam ("the throne of Daylam"), now Alamut, the enigmatic Order of Assassins, derived from the Arabic term 'Hashshashin' meaning 'users of hashish', instilled dread in neighboring regions for two centuries through targeted assassinations, reputedly carried out under the influence of hashish. Their era of intimidation came to an abrupt halt with the Mongol invasion, specifically when Hulagu's forces besieged Alamut in AD 1256. After a 15-day siege, the Order of Assassins relinquished Alamut to Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan.