Persia (Pre-Seljuq). Khujistanids. Ahmand ibn 'Abd Allah, circa AH 261-268 / AD 874-881. Dirham (Silver, 31 mm, 5.72 g, 11 h), possibly donative issue, citing the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muʿtamid ʿalā Allāh, Nishapur, AH 268 = AD 881/2. Central field, in five lines. In three middle lines: lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / al-Muʿtamid ʿalā Allāh (‘There is no deity but God / Muḥammad is the Messenger of God / al-Muʿtamid ʿalā Allāh’ in Arabic). Top and bottom lines: bi-l-yumn / wa-l-saʿāda (‘With prosperity / and happiness’ in Arabic). Margin (Qurʾān 3:26): Allāhumma mālika al-mulk tuʾtī al-mulk man tashāʾ wa-tanziʿu al-mulk mimman tashāʾ wa-tuʿizzu man tashāʾ wa-tudhillu man tashāʾ bi-yadika al-khayr (‘O God, Master of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and take sovereignty away from whom You will; You honour whom You will and humble whom You will. In Your hand is all good’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in five lines. In three middle lines: al-mulk wa-l-qudra li-llāh / al-ḥawl wa-l-quwwa bi-llāh / al-wafī Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (‘Kingship and power belong to God / strength and power are through God / the faithful Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh’ in Arabic). Top and bottom lines: bi-l-naṣr / wa-l-ẓafar (‘With victory / and triumph’ in Arabic). Inner margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi-Naysābūr sanat thamān wa-sittīn wa-miʾatayn (‘In the name of God, this dirham was struck in Naysābūr in the year two hundred and sixty-eight’ in Arabic). Outer margin (Qurʾān 9:123): qātilū alladhīna yalūnakum min al-kuffār wa-l-yajidū fīkum ghilẓa wa-iʿlamū anna Allāha maʿa al-muttaqīn (‘Fight those unbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that God is with the righteous’ in Arabic). Album 1396. Very rare. Small areas of weakness, minor flan faults and deposits, otherwise, good very fine.


The Khujistanids were a short-lived eastern Iranian dynasty active in Khurāsān during the political fragmentation of the later 3rd century AH. Their coinage is rare and historically important, reflecting the unstable balance between local military authority and continued ʿAbbāsid caliphal legitimacy in eastern Iran.

This remarkable issue is distinguished by the four auspicious expressions placed at the top and bottom of the obverse and reverse central fields: bi-l-yumn, wa-l-saʿāda, bi-l-naṣr, and wa-l-ẓafar (‘with prosperity’, ‘and happiness’, ‘with victory’, and ‘and triumph’). Read together, these formulae form a continuous wish surrounding the main religious and political inscriptions, giving the coin an unusually ceremonial and victory-oriented character.

The choice of Qurʾānic passages is also highly significant. Qurʾān 3:26 invokes God as the giver and remover of sovereignty, a particularly suitable verse for a regional ruler asserting authority in a fragmented political environment. Qurʾān 9:123 uses martial language, urging believers to fight nearby enemies and to show firmness, which gives the issue a strongly militant and legitimizing tone. Together with the four auspicious formulae, these verses may be read as a deliberate statement of divinely sanctioned authority, military success, and political legitimacy in the context of Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh’s contested rule in Khurāsān.