How to Identify the Islamic Gold Dinar (Umayyad)

What It Is

The Umayyad gold dinar was introduced as part of Caliph Abd al-Malik's major coinage reform of 696-697 AD (77 AH), which replaced earlier transitional coins imitating Byzantine and Sassanian designs with a wholly new, text-only Islamic coinage. It set the template that Islamic gold coinage would follow for centuries afterward.

Obverse Design

The obverse carries no image at all—only concentric rings of Arabic Kufic script. The center typically bears the Islamic declaration of faith (the Shahada: "There is no god but God, alone, without partner"), while the surrounding marginal legend usually quotes further Quranic text, often referencing the nature of God as described in Surah al-Ikhlas.

Reverse Design

The reverse mirrors this text-centered layout, generally naming the Prophet Muhammad and his mission in the center, with a Quranic quotation (frequently from Surah al-Tawba, verse 33, on the truth of Islam) in the outer margin. Genuine coin dies of this period contain no portraits, animals, or symbolic imagery.

Size, Weight, and Metal

Struck in high-purity gold, the Umayyad dinar weighs close to 4.25 grams (based on the Islamic mithqal standard) with a diameter around 19-20mm, deliberately close to the Byzantine solidus it was meant to rival and replace in regional trade. Edges are plain and hand-struck, so flans can be slightly irregular in shape.

Mint Marks and Dates

Because the design is text-only, dating relies on a marginal inscription that spells out the Islamic (Hijri) year the coin was struck, sometimes along with a mint name—early dinars from the main Damascus mint often omit an explicit city name, while some provincial issues include one. Reading the date requires recognizing Arabic numeral-word forms of the period.

Telling It Apart From Similar Coins

The reformed Umayyad dinar is easy to distinguish from the earlier "Arab-Byzantine" transitional gold coinage, which still carried images of standing caliphs or crosses-on-steps copied from Byzantine prototypes. Any Islamic gold coin with human figures, crosses, or animals predates or falls outside the 697 reform; anything afterward from mainstream Umayyad and Abbasid mints should be purely epigraphic.

Judging Condition at a Glance

Assess condition by the crispness of the Kufic lettering strokes and the completeness of the marginal legend, since these coins have no portrait or pictorial high points to judge wear by. A well-centered strike with a full, legible margin is considered far more desirable than an off-center strike missing part of the date or mint legend.

Authenticity Red Flags

Be cautious of dinars with garbled, non-grammatical Arabic, letterforms that look modern or mix calligraphic styles inconsistent with early Kufic, a weight noticeably off the ~4.25 gram standard, or suspiciously uniform, machine-like lettering that lacks the slight hand-cut die irregularities typical of the period.