Throwback Thursday: Mid-11th Century Fatamid Dinar Under Al-Mustansir Billah NGC AU-58

Amazing!

The Fatimids were an unusual dynasty, in that they were Ismai'ili Shiites, but ruled over Egypt - which at the time would have been about 60% Sunni, 30% Coptic Christian, and 10% other, with Shiites only a tiny piece of that "other". As well as being archetypically early Muslim in design, these gold coins are definitely Shiite in nature, adding to the obverse inscriptions a line in praise of Ali, whom Shiites regard as the true successor to Mohammad - a concept which virtually all of the actual residents of Egypt at the time would have disagreed with.

The Fatimids essentially set themselves up as a rival Caliphate in opposition to the (Sunni) Abbasid Caliphate ruling from Baghdad, and the two Caliphates fought numerous wars and border conflicts; this Sunni-Shiite civil war within the Islamic world directly led to the military weakness which allowed the First Crusade to gain a foothold in the holy land.

The date on the coin is the year 442 Islamic calendar, which converts to AD 1050.

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