Abbasid Caliphate Dinar: Can Anyone Narrow Down The Ruler And Year? Id: Aghlabids (North Africa)

Thanks, @Kushanshah. No wonder I could not find a match.

I will confess that it took me longer than it should have. The word ghalib is a dead giveaway for the Aghlabids but I was focused on the date and the name. There's a lesson in that, I think.

It is only with hindsight that historians split the Aghlabids off as an separate dynasty. In theory, they were the governors of Ifriqiyya (Tunisia) for the 'Abbasids. Instead of a new governor being appointed periodically by the caliph, as was done in most provinces, the governorship of Ifriqiya was passed down through the Aghlabid family in dynastic fashion for about 100 years. Partly due to their distance from Baghdad, they exercised a good deal of autonomy but never actually declared independence. The resemblance of their coins to contemporary 'Abbasid issues is no coincidence. In a sense, that is exactly what they were intended to be, at least nominally.

For better or worse, the only way to confidently attribute Islamic coins is to learn to read the inscriptions. I won't pretend it's easy but I've enjoyed the journey.