Since the founding of the Islamic religion in countries that have adopted Islam, the creation of the Arab-Muslim state of the caliphate has begun.
The caliphate was growing rapidly in the Arab countries, the territories covered were huge, the cities were large, artisans and traders lived in them, an impressive army functioned. To develop the economy of the new state, it was necessary to produce a considerable amount of money.
For the first decades, the new state did not have its own currency; in the Caliphate, they used Byzantine solids and Persian drams, which Muslims seized in wars and took as tax from Byzantium and Persian Sassanids.
Caliphate needs money, a lot of money
But the old money that was in circulation in the countries of the caliphate gradually lost their value, because Christian and Zoroastrian symbols were minted on them. And the caliphate was Muslim. The position of the old monetary units in the new state has become illogical.
It should be noted that in those days paper money was not yet invented, the states minted coins of gold, silver and copper.
There was a need for a Muslim currency. It became the Kufic dirham.
Background of the Dirham
In those days, money was not only the main subject of trade, but also an instrument of political propaganda, and a kind of historical document. On gold and silver coins, portraits of incumbent rulers were mandatory minted.
The monetary reform was carried out by Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, the ninth caliph of the Damascus caliphate. He was an intelligent ruler and a rather risky person. Abdul Malik managed to restore the unity of the caliphate, which almost began to decline after the death of Yazid ibn Muawiy, the second caliph from the Umayyad dynasty.
Without further ado, Abdul Malik decided to copy the design of the coins of the Byzantine solid with exactly the same weight.
This maneuver was carried out so that people would get used to the new currency gradually, besides the money was minted by the same craftsmen who made the solid, their hand was full for the manufacture of the Byzantine coin.
The Christian symbolism was completely absent on the coins and there was a text from the Koran: “In the name of Allah, there is no Deity but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.” A Muslim symbol was also minted - a column with a ball at the top. At first, this coin was called "dinar."
The story of the coin war
When Abdul Malik ascended the throne, he faced the task of eliminating the impostor Abdullah ibn-al-Zubayr, who claimed the post of caliph and was a dangerous and aggressive warrior. For this, Abdul Malik asked for help from the Byzantine emperor Justinian 2. Which, in itself, was humiliating and delivered a lot of moral torment to the caliph.
Justinian agreed, but set a price: 1,000 gold solid per day. Coins must certainly have images.
Justinian's condition was tricky, he hoped that the similarity of coins would allow him to avoid spending on minting money in his empire. In a word, he decided to optimize the costs of making the currency.
Abdul Malik gave the required amount, but in dinars. The character of the emperor of Byzantium was very explosive and unpredictable. Naturally, Justinian was outraged by this demarche, because he believed that the caliphate was temporary, and the young religion of Islam was then considered heretical. When these heretics brought their money, the emperor refused to accept it.
Abdul Malik sought precisely this: he fulfilled his obligation and paid, and the fact that the Byzantines did not want to accept the debt was no longer his problem, as they say.
Justinian decided to take revenge, but he had to take revenge in a tricky way: de jure Abdul Malik was right, because he was trying to pay tribute, and de facto, it was just a tricky maneuver for non-repayment of debt. Now it was the Byzantine emperor's turn to cunning.
In general, the fact that the caliphate dared to mint their money hinted to the emperor - the caliph claims to be autonomous and independent. This Byzantium did not want to, because the lands on which the caliphate is located belong to it.
And he ordered the minting of the solid with the image of Christ Pantocrator and the inscription: "Jesus Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords." On the back of the coin was a portrait of Justinian 2 himself and the inscription: "The victory of the emperor."
It should be noted that the name of the caliph meant "Slave of the King." That is, the insult was actually written on the coins: “I am Justinian, the king, and you are Abdul, my slave”
The Caliph was not offended, because Muslims have the most important king - Allah, and being his slave is not only embarrassing, but also honorable.
However, the hint was received with understanding and required an adequate response.
Bloodless war winner
Therefore, the caliph ordered to mint another dinar depicting himself with a sword in his hand and with a quote from the Koran. On the reverse side there is a column with a ball and the inscription: “In the name of Allah, this dinar was minted in the year 74”.
In response, Justinian ordered a new coin to be minted that closely resembled the caliph’s coin, but it had Christian symbols on it: steps to Calvary on one side and a portrait of Abdul Malik, but without a sword and with a cross behind.
The Caliph was tired of all this, and he ordered the coin to be minted without any images at all, on it were only quotes from the Koran written in Kufic writing - a special calligraphic style that was used to write the Koran.
Byzantium could no longer depict Christian symbolism on coins without images, and the Caliphate triumphed in this monetary war.
Later, the coin got the name Kufic Dirham. This currency has changed font, some decor elements and images.
Imitation of the Kufic Dirham in Russia
Until the end of the first millennium, the currency of the caliphate was actively used in Russia. This happened due to the international contacts of the Kiev court with Byzantium, Khorezm and Western Europe, where the Kufi dirham was the usual legal currency.
Since Russia was also expanding its territory, the dirham was no longer able to satisfy the needs of the population for money - they simply were sorely lacking. Princess Olga made the decision to switch from Kufic dirham to her own currency.
The transition to the Russian coin was also carried out gradually: on the obverse was a hunting falcon and a cross. On the reverse are Kufic letters.
During the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, not only gold coins, but also silver coins were minted.
On the obverse of the pieces of silver depicted a portrait of Prince Vladimir himself, and on the reverse - the face of Jesus Christ, it was a direct reference to the Byzantine solid.
The history of the development of medieval numismatics is written in detail in Goglov’s book “On Severyan imitations of Kufic dirhams”.
Dirhams in modern numismatics
Medieval dirhams are well preserved and have survived to our days, they are often found by treasure hunters. For example, in 1972, 227 Kufi dirhams of the Samanids were completely dug out on Nara.
Treasures are found in Moscow and Moscow Region, on the Oka River and in the nearby basins, not far from Zaraysk, in the Kaliningrad Region, Samarkand, and many other areas of Eastern Europe where this currency was used.
The value and cost of Kufic dirhams on the numismatist market is not very high, sometimes you can buy an original dirham even for 1,000 rubles.
Therefore, it’s much more interesting not to buy them, but to look for them yourself. Finding a treasure has always been an exciting adventure. The main thing is to remember: there are no Kufic dirhams without inscriptions.