ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Fals (Bronze, 20 mm, 3.32 g, 9 h), 'Standing Caliph' type, Tanukh, AH 74-80 / AD 693/4-699/700. Caliph standing facing, bearded, placing his right hand on the pommel of his sword and whip hanging from his right elbow; around, 'J li' abd allah' abd al-malik amir al-mu'minin' ('for the servant of God, Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful' in Kufic). Rev. Transformed cross standing on three steps; in field to left, mint bi-tanukh ('in Tanukh' in Kufic); in field to right, wāf ('full weight' in Kufic); around, part of the first Kalima reading 'la ilaha illa allah wahdahu muhammad rasul allah' ('There is no God but God alone; Muhammad is the Prophet of God'). DOCAB 129. Goodwin, Standing Caliph Coinage, Tanukh, Type I. SICA I, 656. Very fine.


'bi-tanukh' probably does not refer to a mint but to the Banu Tanukh, an Arab tribe that lived in and around the Hauran. The Tanukhids were Christianized in the 3rd and 4th centuries and fought the Persians and Muslims as Roman foederati until the disastrous battle of Yarmouk in 636, in which Khalid ibn al-Walid defeated the Byzantine emperor Heraklios and his local allies. The Tanukhids subjected to Muslim rule thereafter, but they remained staunchly Christian for at least another century before finally being converted to Islam under the Abbasic Caliph Al-Mahdi (AH 158-159 / AD 775-785).