Arabia. Sulayhids. 'Ali ibn Muhammad, AH 439-473 / AD 1047-1081. Dinar (Gold, 21 mm, 2.47 g, 1 h), Zabid, AH 451 = AD 1059/60 (frozen year). Within two concentric circles, in three lines: lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / ʿAlī walī Allāh (‘There is no deity but God; Muḥammad is the Messenger of God; ʿAlī is the friend of God’ in Arabic). Margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi-Zabīd sana iḥdā wa-khamsīn wa-arbaʿ miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Zabīd in the year 451’ in Arabic). Rev. Within two concentric circles, in three lines: amara bihī al-amīr / sayf al-imām / ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad (‘Ordered by the amīr, the Sword of the Imām, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad’ in Arabic). Margin: al-imām Maʿadd Abū Tamīm al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh amīr al-muʾminīn (‘The Imām Maʿadd Abū Tamīm al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, Commander of the Faithful’ in Arabic). Album 1075.2. Small areas of weakness, some doubling and tiny edge chips, otherwise, about extremely fine.


Gold dinars of the Sulayhids struck at Zabīd form part of a distinctive Ismāʿīlī Shiʿite monetary tradition closely aligned with the Fatimid caliphate. The inclusion of the formula ʿAlī walī Allāh alongside the standard profession of faith reflects explicit doctrinal affiliation and serves as a clear ideological marker of Fatimid legitimacy in Yemen.

The title sayf al-imām (“Sword of the Imām”) emphasizes the role of ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad as the military and political representative of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, whose name appears prominently in the reverse margin.