What do we learn about the early Kharijites and Ibadiyya from their coins?

• Author: Gaiser, Adam R.
• Position: Report

Keith Lewinstein observes that the study of Islamic sectarianism is uncomfortably wedded to medieval heresiography. (1) This uneasiness stems, in part, from the nature of the most often consulted heresiographical texts, whose problems--late dates, rigorous classification schemes, polemics, and Ash'arite-Mu'tazilite inclinations--are well known. Nevertheless, the general lack of primary sources from early Islamic sectarian groups leaves scholars with few sources other than heresiography. Lewinstein therefore proposes two source-critical strategies for dealing with this issue: to bypass the standard texts by using material from outside the Ash'arite-Mu'tazilite tradition, or to dissect the texts with an eye toward the sources that compose them. This paper follows the first method, but seeks to "outflank" texts altogether by examining coins. As it turns out, the coins of the Kharijites, and secondarily the Ibadiyya, provide a compelling example of how numismatics can be used to augment the study of sectarianism.

The aim of the study is to compare some of what has been assumed (based primarily on heresiographical texts and secondarily on historical materials) about two early and related Islamic sectarian groups--the Kharijites and Ibadiyya--with what can be learned, or inferred, about them from the iconography of their coins. The Kharijites were a collection of rebellious Muslim groups that emerged after the Battle of Siffin in 36/658 and contested Umayyad, and later 'Abbasid, rule. The Ibadiyya are the sole surviving sectarian relative of the Kharijites: they exist today primarily in Oman, Algeria, Libya, Tunis, and along the Swahili Coast. (2) Some coins of the Kharijites seem to tell a slightly different story from that which can be found in the medieval texts, whereas the coins of the Ibadiyya confirm some aspects of their story in Ibadi texts. It is this dissonance, or lack thereof, that is ultimately the focus of this study; I hope to demonstrate that coins can offer the historian of sectarianism--and especially the student of early Islamic sectarianism--a welcome primary source and a new perspective that presents a means to evaluate heresiographical and historical information. As such, the iconography of coins can function as a way to problematize, challenge, or confirm inherited notions about a sectarian movement.

The coins of the Kharijites and Ibadiyya offer a useful source of comparison with the textual tradition for several reasons. First, the Kharijites were one of the only early Islamic sectarian movements to mint coins (to my knowledge, no Shi'ite groups minted coins before the 'Abbasid revolution). There are several known examples of Kharijite coins, plus other coins of disputed Kharijite origin. Two coins of the same type and from the same hoard can reasonably be said to have come from the Ibadiyya.

Secondly, due to the practical information contained on the coins (such as mint, date, issuer, and denomination), scholars can locate them with some reliability in their historical context. This ability to positively identify Kharijite coins makes them unique: they are the only source that can be said with certainty to have come from the early Kharijites themselves. (3) The coins of the Ibadiyya, though lacking standard identifying information, nevertheless contain inscriptions that allow them to be recognized as Ibadi coins. In addition, their discovery as part of the Sinaw horde in Oman makes likely their attribution to the Ibadiyya. As products of the Kharijites and Ibadiyya respectively, the coins offer something that heresiographical texts do not: an unedited source on the Kharijites and Ibadiyya from the Kharijites and Ibadiyya.

Finally, due to the importance of the Kharijites in the early Islamic period, there is a relative wealth of historical and heresiographical information about them. Luke Treadwell argues that "coins can only yield their full benefit to the historian if they are interpreted, not as disembodied and decontextualized objects, but in the light of the narrative provided by contemporary historians." (4) Muslim and non-Muslim scholars alike have long known the basic history, doctrines, and practices of the various Kharijite sub-sects. Likewise, the Ibadiyya preserved a large corpus of text, much of which has now been published and is in the process of being analyzed by specialists. This accumulation of text and secondary scholarship makes a critical comparison between texts on the Kharijites and Ibadiyya and their coins possible.

Although numismatists have written about the coins of the Kharijites and Ibadiyya, they have not concerned themselves with the specific iconography of their coins. John Walker's catalogues of Arab-Sasanian and Arab-Byzantine coins remain the standard works on the pre-reform period, and include examples of the early Kharijite coins. (5) Carl Wurtzel's study of late Umayyad revolutionary coinage addresses the post-reform Kharijite coins from Kufa and environs. (6) Malek Iradj Mochiri published a study of Islamic civil war coinage in which he not only included many known Kharijite coins, but argued for the re-attribution of other coins to the Kharijites. (7) More recently, Nicholas Lowick published his findings on the Sinaw hoard, which included two coins that he traced to the Ibadis. (8) While these studies offer limited analysis of Kharijite and Ibadi coinage, their primary concern is to identify and classify the coins without necessarily exploring what messages the coins might convey. As for scholars of Islamic studies, only Wilferd Madelung notes the existence of Kharijite coins, without offering an investigation of their iconography. (9)

Due to the comparative nature of this investigation, this study will limit its examination to the examples of Kharijite coinage that can reliably be identified with an early Kharijite group about which a moderate amount of textual documentation also exists. Therefore, this study will examine the silver dirhams of the Azariqa and the 'Atawiyya; the post-reform dirham that was minted, in great likelihood, by al-Dahhak b. Qays; and the fals that was minted in his name. Two anonymous silver coins from the Sinaw hoard provide the only probable examples of Ibacli coinage from the early imamate period in Oman. (10)

What, then, can be learned from the coins of the Kharijites and Ibadiyya? To answer this question, this paper will first explicate how a historian of religion might approach the study of coins as a supplement to the study of sectarianism. Although the study of coins offers a unique window into the study of sectarian movements, several important caveats must be borne in mind when evaluating numismatic data. This paper will show that the coins of the Azariqa, 'Atawiyya, and those produced by the Khariji rebel al-Dahhak b. Qays conform to the prevailing iconographic standards of their eras while minimizing markers of sectarian identity. Such practices would not seem to easily correspond with the standard heresiographical and historical portrayals of these Kharijite groups as intractably separatist and hostile to non-members. At the same time, the coins of the Ibadiyya substantiate the picture of the Ibadiyya as more willing to accommodate themselves to the wider Islamic community. In addition, the conservative iconography of early Kharijite coins provides some boundaries around a speculative question that Fred Donner posed about the possible apocalyptic concerns of the early Kharijites. There is much to be learned about the early Islamic sectarian groups such as the Kharijites and Ibadiyya from their coins.

"READING" COINS AS A STUDENT OF ISLAMIC SECTARIANISM

How exactly can the historian of religion learn from the field of numismatics, and more specifically, how can a student of early Islamic sectarianism learn about the Kharijites and Ibadiyya from their coins? Numismatics, as the systematic study of coins, banknotes, and related materials, follows the "life-cycle" of a monetary unit from its production, circulation, and deposition to its recovery, recording, and eventual publication in the public domain. (11) Thus, there are several ways to answer the question.

To begin with, the historian of religion may focus on the coin's production, especially on what was intentionally placed on the coin. As Michael Bates notes: "Almost as soon as coinage was invented, rulers and cities realized the utility of coins not merely as a means of exchange but as bearers of messages." (12) As a message bearer, what I will call the iconography of a coin (broadly conceived as the pictures, busts, inscriptions, dates, mint information, and issuing authority) illuminates, to a certain extent, something about those who produced it. This study will assume--along with Jere Bacharach--that "the highest political authority, even if that person didn't have control over the mint, was ultimately responsible" for the iconography of the coin. (13) In this case, it would have been the Kharijite and Ibadi imams who ultimately decided what to place on their coins.

The iconography of early Kharijite and Ibadi coins offers a rare and unedited glimpse into the articulation of political and religio-sectarian identity and authority in the early Islamic era. Beyond the practical information of date, mint, and issuer, Kharijite and Ibadi coins contain inscriptions, such as la hukm ilia li-lah ("No judgment except God's"), that convey the sectarian identity of the coin issuer. This phrase was the slogan of the Kharijites, and expresses the revolutionary sentiment of their movement. Likewise, the inscriptions on the coins often include titles, such as 'abd Allah ... amir al-mu'minin ("Servant of God ... Commander of the Faithful"), that make implicit claims about the issuer's political and religious authority. These claims simultaneously challenged the authority of the reigning Umayyad caliphs, who laid claim to these honorific titles as...