Umayyad Caliphate. Anonymous issue, AH 80-132 / AD 699-750. Fals (Bronze, 16 mm, 3.48 g, 10 h), Menorah type, Iliya (Jerusalem). Central device: Five-branched candelabrum. Margin: lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahu (‘There is no deity but God alone’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in three lines: Muḥammad / rasūl / Allāh (‘Muḥammad / is the Messenger / of God’ in Arabic). Album 163.1. Barag, The Islamic Candlestick Coins of Jerusalem, INJ 10, type 4. SICA II, 1310. Walker 605. Rare. Some deposits and small scratches, otherwise, good 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.