ISLAMIC, Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah, AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. Dinar (Gold, 24 mm, 4.19 g, 12 h), first standard type, Sabra (Sfax), AH 439 = AD 1047/8. Within a central circle, ‘lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / ʿAlī walī Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Ali is the friend of Allah’ in Arabic); in the margin, traces of ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic). Rev. Within a central circle, ‘al-imām / al-Mustanṣir billāh / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘Imam al-Mustansir billah, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi Ṣabra sana tisʿ wa thalāthīn wa arbaʿa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dinar was struck in Sabra in the year 439’ in Arabic). Album 719.1. A rare date. Struck from worn dies, otherwise, very fine.


This type was struck under Zirid authority.