ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Fals (Bronze, 17 mm, 4.49 g, 3 h), standing caliph type, Tanukh. Within a dotted circle, bearded caliph standing facing, placing his right hand on the hilt of his sword; to left, ‘[Amīr al-Muʾ]minīn’ (‘Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); to right, ‘khalīfat Allāh ʿabd Allāh’ (‘Caliph of Allah, Servant of Allah’ in Arabic). Rev. Transformed cross on three steps; to left, ‘wāf’ (‘full [weight]’ in Arabic); to right ‘li-Tanūkh’ (‘For Tanukh’ in Arabic); around, ‘[lā ilāha] illā Allāh waḥdahū Muḥammad rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic). Album 3531. Zeno 102407. Rare. Some deposits, otherwise, very fine.



'bi-tanukh' does likely not refer to a mint but instead 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 were subjected to Muslim rule thereafter, but they remained staunchly Christian for at least another century before finally being converted to Islam under the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mahdi (AH 158-159 / AD 775-785).