Mamluks. al-Mansur Sayf al-Din Qala'un, AH 678-689 / AD 1279-1290. Heavy Dinar (Gold, 22 mm, 8.06 g, 8 h), al-Qahira (Cairo), AH 680 = AD 1281/2. Central field, in five lines: • al-ḥaqq •/ lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / arsalahu bi-l-hudā/ •• wa-dīn •• (‘The Truth / There is no deity but God / Muḥammad is the Messenger of God / whom He sent with guidance / and the religion’ in Arabic). Margin: ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār ... sanat thamānīn wa-sitt-miʾa (‘This dinar was struck in ... in the year six hundred and eighty’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in five lines: ḍuriba bi-l-Qāhira al-sulṭān al-malik al- / Manṣūr / Sayf al-Dunyā wa-l-Dīn / Qalāʾūn al-Ṣāliḥī Qāsim / amīr al-muʾminīn (‘Struck in al-Qāhira / the Sultan, the King / al-Manṣūr Sayf al-Dunyā wa-l-Dīn / Qalāʾūn al-Ṣāliḥī Qāsim / Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic). Margin: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā … (‘Muḥammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance …’ in Arabic; remainder off flan). Album 893. Balog 116. Very rare. In NGC encapsulation, graded UNC Details. A small scratch on the reverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Al-Manṣūr Qalāʾūn was one of the most important rulers of the Baḥrī Mamluk Sultanate, presiding over a period of military consolidation and growing political stability in Egypt and Syria. Originally purchased as a mamluk slave soldier under the Ayyubid ruler al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb, Qalāʾūn rose through the military hierarchy and eventually became sultan in AH 678 / AD 1279. His reign marked a decisive phase in the transformation of the Mamluk state into the dominant military power of the eastern Mediterranean.

A particularly curious feature of the obverse is the isolated word al-ḥaqq at the top of the field. This word is actually the continuation of the Qurʾānic phrase bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq (‘with guidance and the religion of truth’), yet here it has been visually separated from the rest of the inscription and elevated to its own position at the top of the design. This unusual arrangement was likely intentional for artistic and epigraphic balance, while simultaneously giving added visual emphasis to the powerful theological concept of al-ḥaqq (‘The Truth’). Such creative manipulation of standard religious formulae is one of the more distinctive artistic features of Mamluk epigraphy.