Hisham Ibn Abd Al-Malik was the tenth Umayyad Caliph reigning from 724 until his death in 743. Hisham reigned during the final period of prosperity and glory of the Umayyad.

He was a great patron of the arts, and he encouraged arts in the empire. He also encouraged the growth of education by building more schools, and perhaps most importantly, by overseeing the translation of numerous literary and scientific masterpieces into Arabic.

The above shown silver Dirham was issued during his reign from Al Mubaraka mint. The obverse of a coin depicted the Arabic legend in Kufic script ‘la ilah illa / Allah wahdahu / la Sharik lahu’ at the center in three lines. ‘Bism Allah duriba hadha’l-dirham bi’l- Mubaraka’ depicted around.

On the other hand, the reverse of a coin also has Arabic legend ‘allah ahad allah / al-samad lam yalid / wa lam yulad wa lam yakun / lahu kufuwan ahad’ in four lines and ‘muhammad rasul allah arsalahu bi’l-huda wa din al-haqq li-yuzhirahu ‘ala al-din kullihi wa-law kariha al-mushrikun’ around.

Image Source: Heritage Auctions