ISLAMIC, Fatimids. al-Musta'li billah, AH 487-495 / AD 1094-1101. Dinar (Gold, 23 mm, 3.86 g, 4 h), 1st series, al-Iskandariyya, AH 489 = AD 1096. Within a central circle, ‘ʿAlī / lā ilāha illā Allāh / waḥdahū lā sharīka lahū / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / walī Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Ali is the friend of Allah’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic). Rev. Within a central circle, ‘Aḥmad / ʿabd Allāh wa waliyyuhū / al-imām Abu’l-Qāsim / al-Mustaʿlī billāh / amīr al-muʾminīn / ʿāl’ (‘The servant of Allah and His friend, Imam Ahmad Abu’l-Qasim al-Mustaʿli billah, Commander of the Believers. Extremely high [quality]’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi al-Iskandariyya sana tisʿ wa thamānīn wa arbaʿa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. This dinar was struck in al-Iskandariyya in the year 489’ in Arabic). Album 725.1. Rare. Plugged hole, otherwise, very fine.