al-Muqtadir, ‘Abbasid Caliph AH 295-320/AD 908-932

Bernardi 242Jh; A 245.2, Extremely Fine

Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) mint. Kalima at center, Abu’l-’Abbas named as heir below, double obverse marginal legends with Qur’an 30:4 in outer margin, date formula in inner margin; Reverse, continuation of Kalima, “lillah” above, al-Muqtadir Billah cited below, Qur’an 9:33 in margin.

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Al-Muqtadir (AH 295-320/ AD 908-932) was the eighteenth caliph of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate. A relatively long period of stability was shattered by various uprisings, the greatest of which was that of the Qaramitas, also written as Qarmatians. The Qaramitas were a branch of Shia Islam that incorporated certain beliefs of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion. The Qaramita movement eroded the legitimacy of the ‘Abbasids substantially. Historians believe that Farabi, the great Persian philosopher and polymath wrote his influential “Book of Music”, which dealt with metaphysical qualities of music, during the reign of al-Muqtadir.