2019-10-16 Wed

Al Hakam II was the second Umayyad Caliph of Cordoba reigning from 961 to 976 AD. He was the son of Abd-ar-Rahman III and Murjan.

He succeeded in the Caliphate after the death of his father. During the reign, he secured peace with the Catholic kingdoms of northern Iberia and made use of the stability to develop agriculture through the construction of irrigation works. The famous physician, scientist, and surgeon Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) was also active in Al-Hakam's court during his reign.

The above shown silver Dirham was issued under his reign from Madinat al-Zahra. The obverse of the coin depicted the Arabic inscription which translated as "There is no God except Allah alone. He has no partner" in the central field, "In the name of Allah this dirhem was struck at Madinat al-Zahra” in the margin. The reverse of a coin depicts "Allah is One, Allah is eternal. He begets neither is he begotten" in the central field, "Mohamed is the prophet of Allah whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth that he may make it victorious over every other religion", within a border.

Image Source: wikipedia.org