2018-09-14 Fri

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the four great Muslim caliphates of the Arab Empire. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, from whom the dynasty takes its name. They overthrew the Umayyad to take the power and formed the capital at Baghdad.

Coins of Abbasid have set up a new chapter in the study Numismatics. Abbasid coins differed only slightly from those of their precursors; the Umayyads. They issued gold Dinar, Silver Dirham, and Copper Fals. The earliest Abbasid gold dinars minted in 750 and were struck either in Damascus or in Kufa, the first Abbasid capital. They improved the aspects of coins using a more elegant form of Kufic script. Old coins of Abbasid were a continuation of the minting practices of the Umayyads. Abbasid Dirham bears the traditional formula on its obverse, the Kalima ‘La Ilaha Illallahu Wahdahu Lasharikalahu’ while the reverse of Abbasid Dirhams reads ‘Muhammadur Rasulullah’.

Toward the end of the Abbasid reign, from 1160 to 1258, a series of poorly struck, lightweight coins were issued in Baghdad. After that, the Abbasid Caliphate lost central control. The western portion of the domain fell to the Idrisids and Fatimids as well as the Umayyads of Spain, while the core of the empire was in the hands of the Caliphal Turkish guards and their subsequent dynasties.

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