Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Suleiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 96-99 / AD 715-717. Dinar (Gold, 20 mm, 4.26 g, 3 h), No mint, AH 98 = AD 716/7. Central field, in three lines: lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū (‘There is no deity but God alone; He has no associate’ in Arabic). Margin (Qurʾān 9:33): Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi (‘Muḥammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in three lines (Qurʾān 112:1-3): Allāh aḥad Allāh / al-ṣamad lam yalid / wa lam yūlad (‘God is One, God the Eternal Refuge; He begets not, nor is He begotten’ in Arabic). Margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār fī sana thamān wa-tisʿīn (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in the year ninety-eight’ in Arabic); pellet below the bāʾ of ḍuriba. Album 127. ICV 185. Walker 213. Fresh and lustrous. Minor marks and graffito ‘MOV’ on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.



This dinar was struck in AH 98, during the short reign of Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, only two decades after the introduction of the fully epigraphic Islamic gold dinar under ʿAbd al-Malik. By this date, the reformed dinar had become a highly standardized imperial currency, usually written in an austere monumental script with little or no diacritical pointing.

A particularly interesting feature of the present specimen is the visible dot below the bāʾ of ḍuriba in the reverse margin. Diacritical marks are rarely shown on Umayyad gold dinars of this period, and their occasional appearance provides valuable evidence for the selective use of pointing in early Islamic epigraphy.

The graffiti ‘MOV’ above the reverse field is a later mark and does not belong to the original die, but it is worth recording as part of the coin’s individual history. Such marks may reflect later handling, ownership, testing, or commercial movement, though its precise meaning here remains uncertain.