ISLAMIC, al-Maghreb (North Africa). Almohads (al-Muwahhidun). Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Mu'min, AH 524-558 / AD 1130-1163. 1/2 Dinar (Gold, 20 mm, 2.27 g, 12 h), Sabta (Ceuta), undated. Within a central square, ‘lā ilāha illā / Allāh Muḥammad / rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic); between the two squares, ‘S’ = Sabta; in the margin, ‘bism Allāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm / ṣalla Allāh ʿalā Muḥammad / wa ālihī al-ṭayyibīn / al-ṭāhirīn’ (‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. May Allah bless Muhammad and his family, the good, the pure’ in Arabic).
Rev. Within a central square, ‘al-Mahdī imām / al-umma al-Qāʾim / bi amr Allāh’ (‘al-Mahdi, the Imam of the [Islamic] community, the Riser by the Command of Allah’ in Arabic); between the two squares, ‘S’ = Sabta; in the margin, ‘Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd / al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī / amīr al-muʾminīn / al-ḥamd lillāh rabb al-ʿālamīn’ (‘Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al-Muʾmin son of ʿAli, Commander of the Believers. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds’ in Arabic). Album 478. Light nicks and with a few minor scrapes
, otherwise, about very fine.
From the Asha & Ardeshir Dabestani Collection, ex Album 18, 16 January 2014, 305.