A British coin with Arabic inscriptions. How did King Ufa blend an Abbasid and an English design?

Imran Abdullah

About 1240 years ago, a unique coin bearing Arabic inscriptions was minted, dating back to King Ufa of Marseilles - an Anglo-Saxon kingdom - between 757 and 796.

The design of the coin is from the dinar minted by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur, who was contemporary to King Ufa, and copies of the entire design, including reference to the Abbasid Caliphate until the date of the coin, issued in 157 AH. However, it is clear that the scribe does not read the Arabic language, as there are minor errors in the Arabic inscription.

The coin was first shown in a sale hall in Rome and may have been found there. Experts confirmed that the coin currently being presented at the British Museum is original and possibly a gift to the pope from King Ufa. The Mercian king promised to send 365 gold pieces to him each year.

If the coin is part of this diplomatic gift, it is ironic that the copied Arabic version includes the phrase "There is no god but Allah alone".

In addition to the two certificates, I wrote on the coin parts of a Koranic verse, the history of the original sikar dinar in Arabic, and the name of King Ufa in English.

The choice of the Islamic dinar as a model for the Uva gold coin should not be interpreted as an indication of Ufa's religious beliefs, because historical evidence leaves no doubt that it is Christian.

However, the currency may reflect instead the importance of the golden dinar in international trade; it was the dominant currency in the Mediterranean and inspired the redesign of gold coins in northern Europe.

In modern times, the lines between Arab and European cultures seem to be large. Global trade is becoming increasingly difficult, but perhaps during the Abbasid and King Ufa periods such artifacts were a reminder of the convergence of cultures and more untold tales.

So what is the secret of the Arab inscription on King Ova's golden coin? There are a number of theories to explain this, including that Ufa converted to Islam, and therefore the currency coins in the Arabic text.

But this interpretation is unlikely because Ufa submitted an appeal to the Pope to install him as a bishop, and promised to pay an annual amount of gold to the Holy See. After the invasion of Kent by Ufa in 775, the Canterbury bishops recognized that Ufa was the master of their knights, and the coins minted by the Canterbury bishops (who owned the right of the coin in that period) included the name of King Ufa.

Perhaps during the course of his foreign affairs, he considered the Arabic inscriptions as mere decoration, and he loved to convey them and add to his name without understanding the importance of the text and its meaning, and did so more than a European king in the midst of admiration for Andalusian excellence and the Arab Levant.

Perhaps he wanted to make it easier for Christian pilgrims who traveled from England to the Holy Land in the Middle East, beating the coin so that it could be accepted more easily by Arabs and Muslims in Palestine and the Abbasid lands.

Perhaps the coin was one of those sent as a gift to the pope, but would it contain an Islamic text if used for this purpose? Other coins with Roman and Islamic inscriptions bearing the names of Christian princes have been found, so it is possible to add a gold coin with inscriptions of Arab and Islamic origin.

No other coin of this coin was found, possibly a "limited edition", and may have been given to the Pope as part of a pledge to pay a certain amount, and its sudden appearance in Rome seems to lend credence to this possibility.

Whatever the answer, the coin is still a beautiful and symbolic artifact, telling us a world of mixed cultures and identities 12 centuries ago.