Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah, AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. Dinar (Gold, 23 mm, 4.17 g, 12 h), First standard type, Sabra (Sfax), AH 439 = AD 1047/8. Central inscription in three lines within two concentric circles: 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 (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). Rev. Central inscription in three lines within two concentric circles: al-imām / al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh / amīr al-muʾminīn (‘The Imam / al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh / Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic). Margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi-Ṣabra sana tisʿ wa thalāthīn wa arbaʿ-miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Sabra in the year four hundred and thirty-nine’ in Arabic). Album 719.1. Nicol 1749. Very rare. Struck from somewhat worn dies, with some weaknesses and minor marks, otherwise, very fine.


This interesting North African issue was struck at Ṣabra, near modern Sfax in Tunisia, under the authority of the Zirids during their nominal allegiance to the Fatimid caliphate. Although produced within Zirid territory, the coinage continued to bear only the name and titulature of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, reflecting the complex political relationship between the two dynasties during the mid-5th century AH.

Gold dinars from Ṣabra are considerably rarer than the contemporary Egyptian issues from Miṣr and represent an important provincial branch of later Fatimid gold coinage. The present AH 439 issue belongs to a short-lived series struck shortly before the formal Zirid break with the Fatimids and the abandonment of Fatimid Shiʿite allegiance in the Maghrib.