Persia (Pre-Seljuq). Su'lukids. Muhammad ibn 'Ali, second reign, circa AH 314-316 / AD 926-928. Dinar (Gold, 25 mm, 3.67 g, 1 h), citing the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muqtadir bi-llāh and the Sāmānid ruler Naṣr ibn Aḥmad as overlord, Muhammadiyya, AH 316 = AD 928/9. Central field, in four lines: lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū / Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (‘There is no deity but God alone; He has no associate / Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī’ in Arabic). Inner margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi-l-Muḥammadiyya sanat sitt ʿashra wa-thalāth-miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck at al-Muḥammadiyya in the year three hundred and sixteen’ 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-Muqtadir bi-llāh / Naṣr ibn Aḥmad (‘For God / Muḥammad / Messenger of God / al-Muqtadir bi-llāh / Naṣr ibn Aḥmad’ 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). Album A1483. Bernardi 263Mh. Rare and well struck for this type. Slightlz clipped, small areas of weakness and tinz deposits, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.



The Suʿlūkids were a short-lived local dynasty based around al-Muḥammadiyya, the Islamic mint-name for Rayy, in northern Iran. Their gold coinage is rare and historically significant because it reflects the complex political conditions of western Iran in the early 4th century AH, where local dynasts ruled under the shadow of more powerful regional and caliphal authorities.

The present issue is politically layered: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī is named on the obverse, while the reverse cites both the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muqtadir bi-llāh and the Sāmānid ruler Naṣr ibn Aḥmad. This arrangement expresses local Suʿlūkid authority, formal caliphal legitimacy, and Sāmānid overlordship within a single epigraphic programme. Naṣr ibn Aḥmad, the Sāmānid ruler from AD 914 to 943, presided over one of the high points of Sāmānid power in Khurāsān and Transoxiana.