'Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Radi, AH 322-329 / AD 934-940. Dirham (Silver, 23 mm, 3.75 g, 9 h), Halab, AH 329 = AD 940/1. 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). Inner margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi-Ḥalab sanat tisʿ ʿashrīn wa-thalāth-miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dirham was struck in Ḥalab in the year three hundred and twenty-nine’ in Arabic). Outer margin (Qurʾān 30:4-5): li-llāh al-amr min qabl wa-min baʿd wa-yawmaʾidhin yafraḥ al-muʾminūn bi-naṣr Allāh (‘To God belongs the command before and after, and on that day the believers will rejoice in the help of God’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in five lines: li-llāh / Muḥammad / rasūl / Allāh / al-Rāḍī bi-llāh (‘For God / Muḥammad / Messenger / of God / al-Rāḍī bi-llāh’ in Arabic). Below: y.q. (?); Margin (Qurʾān 9:33): Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi wa-law kariha al-mushrikūn (‘Muḥammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion, even though the polytheists may dislike it’ in Arabic). Album 255.1. Extremely rare and beautifully toned. Areas of weakness and minor flan faults on the edge, otherwise, very fine.



The present specimen is especially notable for the small additional inscription y.q. (?) below the reverse field. The meaning of this fully dotted inscription remains uncertain, and no convincing interpretation has yet been established. The careful placement of the dots is particularly interesting, since fully dotted subsidiary inscriptions are relatively unusual on Abbasid silver coinage of this period.