Laqab for a future caliph: the case of the Abbasid al-Mahdi.

• Author: Bacharach, Jere L.

Relatively little has been written on the relationship between numismatic inscriptions and Abbasid imperial policies, although important work has been done by George C. Miles, Norman Douglas Nicol, and Muhammad al-??Ush, among others, on identifying local governors from inscriptions on dirhams (silver coins) and fulus (copper coins).(1) Following the examples of Samir Shamma and Dr. Nahid Abd al-Razzaq, my purpose is to relate numismatic texts to specific historical events and policies.(2) The example I will focus on is a new style dirham from Rayy that is dated 145 A.H.

Theoretical caliphal prerogatives included the right of sikkah, by which I mean that the caliph, to the best of his ability, controlled the inscriptions on the gold and silver issues. Nicholas Lowick, the noted British numismatist, created a working table of sixty-eight reverse field varieties, excluding the names of governors and isolated letters, for Abbasid dirhams for the period 132 to 218.(3) As a result of Lowick's categories and Shamma's and Daftar's work, it is no longer clear that the caliph did, in fact, control the inscriptions on the silver issues minted in his name in the various provincial cities. In interpreting the inscriptions on the Rayy issue of 145, both possibilities, that is, central control or regional control, must be taken into account.

Abbasid dirhams for the reign of al-Safah (132-36) and for most of the reign of al-Mansur (136-58) continued a general pattern established after the reforms of the Umayyad caliph ??Abd al-Malik.(4) For my purposes, the important point is that the reverse field on the earliest Abbasid dirhams had only the formula: Muhammad//Rasul//Allah. Additional pious phrases were eventually added.(5)

The first significant break from the Umayyad tradition of anonymous gold and silver took place in 145 at the mint of Rayy (al-Rayy) in Iran where the reverse included a radically new inscription. It reads as follows: mimma amara bihi//al-Mahdi Muhammad//ibn amir almu??minin (by the order of al-Mahdi Muhammad son of the commander of the Believers). I will treat this inscription in three parts: first, the opening Arabic phrase, which indicates the order to mint; second, the appearance of an ism or surname in conjunction with the phrase ibn amir al-mu??minin; and, third, the use of a laqab or honorific title by a ruler or his successor. The most important development as it relates to political power in the Abbasid world is the appearance of the laqab.

The formula mimma amara bihi (by the order of) appears on many copper coins in both the margin and field from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, including the revolutionary pieces associated with Abu Muslim and the origins of the Abbasid movement.(6) But, before the Rayy coins dated 145, the formula did not appear on the reverse of regular Abbasid dirhams. Thus, the placing of it on the field of a silver coin where it was most legible is significant. The question of who authorized the inscription will be dealt with below.

The second element on the Rayy dirhams of 145 is the...