Umayyad Caliphate. Anonymous issue, AH 80-132 / AD 699-750. Fals (Bronze, 15 mm, 3.59 g, 10 h), menorah type, probably struck at Iliya (Jerusalem). A five-branched candelabrum, looking like a Jewish Menorah, in the center; around, ‘lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahū’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One’ in Arabic). Rev. ‘Muḥammad / rasūl / Allāh’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic). Album 163.1. Walker 605. Rare. Some corrosion and patina, otherwise, very fine.


This early Islamic bronze coin struck in Jerusalem appears to show a distinctly Jewish cult object - an unusual choice under Muslim rule, at first glance. While often labeled a menorah, some examples more closely resemble a temple chalice known from coins of the First Jewish Revolt.

This imagery fits the political and religious climate of the 7th century. Jewish communities in Bilad al-Sham generally coexisted peacefully with the early Muslim authorities, united in opposition to Byzantium. As monotheists recognized as ‘People of the Book,’ Jews occupied an accepted place in the new order. After the second Rashidun caliphʿUmar ibn al-Chattāb took the Jerusalem in 637/38, Jews were again permitted to live there after centuries of restriction, making the appearance of a Jewish symbol on locally issued coinage historically plausible under the early Umayyads.