temp. Marwan II, Umayyad Caliph AH 127-132/AD 744-750

SICA-2, 314ff; A 141, Superb Extremely Fine

No mint name (Damascus). Kalima at center, Qur’an 9:33 in margin; Reverse, Qur’an 112; date formula in margin. Rare.

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Marwan II (AH 127-132/ AD 744-750) was the last of the Umayyad Caliphs. The later Umayyads faced growing dissent among pious Muslims who considered the Umayyads too worldly and among Persian converts in Khurasan who resented the pro-Arab policies of the Umayyads. These sentiments erupted into revolution and in AD 750, Abu’l-’Abbas al-Saffah was proclaimed caliph by the revolutionaries, becoming the first caliph of the ‘Abbasid dynasty. Marwan II fled to Egypt but was hunted down and killed, as were most members of the Umayyad family.