ISLAMIC, Arabia. Mahdids. temp. 'Ali ibn Mahdi, AH 554-558 / AD 1159-1163. Dirham (Silver, 22 mm, 1.60 g, 4 h), Zabid, AH 558 = AD 1162/3. Shiʿa kalima within a 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, ‘ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi Zabīd sana thamān wa khamsīn wa kh[amsa miʾa]’ (‘This dirham was struck in Zabid in the year 558’ in Arabic). Rev. ‘al-imām / shams / sharīʿat / al-islām’ (‘The imam is the sun of the law of Islam’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih’ (‘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’ in deteriorated Arabic). Album 1081. Very rare. Minor doubling on the reverse, otherwise, about extremely fine.