Ufa Rex dinar.. Why did the English king mint the word monotheism on his currency a thousand years ago?

In the mid-nineteenth century, the world heard for the first time about a British golden dinar that carried on its sides the expressions of monotheism and belief in God and the prophethood of Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Although the history of the minting of the dinar discovered in Rome dates back to at least a thousand years before that time, it did not gain fame until the issuance of the report prepared by the numismatic researcher “Adrian Le Negpierre” and sent to the Society of Coins, Necklaces and Securities Collectors in Britain in 1841.

According to the report, the history of the dinar dates back to the era of an English king who lived in the second half of the eighth century AD, that is, 1200 years ago, King Offa Rex, one of the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kings who united the conflicting principalities of the British island under the wing of his kingdom, Mercia. After much effort and destructive wars.

Who is "Ova Rex"?

Why did he mint a gold dinar and add to it the expressions of monotheism and remove the cross that distinguished all Latin and European coins at the time?

Did the influence of Islam reach Britain on that date?

How was this king's relationship with Muslims?

Does this gold coin mean that the King of England converted to Islam at that time?

That is what we will stand with in our next lines.

Ufa Rex, the unifier of the English

Between the middle of the fourth century AD and until the middle of the sixth century AD, Britain was subjected to the first Germanic invasions, and the Germans are those who were defined by historians as the Anglo-Saxons or the Saxons, and they are a mixture of the Saxons, the English and the Jutes coming from Denmark, “Gotland” (in present-day Sweden) and Germany These savage groups invaded the British island without much resistance from its original inhabitants, who escaped from the invaders and settled in the southern regions of Wales, which became their home and residence.

Soon, a bitter conflict erupted between the leaders of these sects, and each of them was able to become independent and form a special kingdom, until tomorrow in the British island 7 kingdoms, including Wessex, Sussex, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria. And Kent, and the leadership of those kingdoms eventually came to the dominance of “Mercia” after wars and bitter conflict, where everyone owed it allegiance and complete submission, and this only happened during the reign of its greatest king, King “Ofa Rex” (757-796 AD / 140-180 AH), who managed to deservedly acquire the titles of "King of England", "King of all the English countries" and "The Great King of Mercia"[1].

Offa did not achieve this great achievement by uniting the British island under the sultan of his state except because of his great military power, which relied on a strong financial stream of trade and the collection of profit and wealth. He must be interested in commerce and encourage it.”[2]

Offa's interest in trade reflected his interest in economics, as well as his desire to form diplomatic and commercial relations with the surrounding European powers, and even with the Islamic world, which was at the height of its civilized and military power under the rule of the first Abbasid caliphs, such as Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, Muhammad al-Mahdi, Musa al-Hadi, and then Harun Al Rasheed.

Offa Islamic Dinar

As we mentioned, Ufa was keen to establish diplomatic and commercial relations with the most powerful European kingdoms at the time, the Kingdom of the Franks (France) and the Holy Roman Empire under the leadership of King "Charlemagne". He also worked on reforming silver and gold coins for the English to facilitate commercial transactions between England and its neighbors, as well as the world. The Islamic, whose strength reached the European continent at that time, with the victory of Muslims in Andalusia and southern France and their settlement there for long periods.

However, it was noted that Offa, before it reached a commercial agreement between the English and the French, did not want to recognize the authority of the Papal Catholic Church in Rome, whose sword at that time was in the hands of Charlemagne, the protector of its power and sovereignty on the European continent, and Charlemagne punished him.

Historians have noted that the coins of the beginning of the era of "Ufa" carried the Christian cross sign on their back, and their face bore the image of King "Ufa", but the matter changed with the coins presented at the end of his era, until the sign of the cross faded and the image of the king disappeared, and then finally the remarkable golden dinar appeared, which On it was inscribed "Ofa" the phrase monotheism and Islam in 157 AH / 774 AD [4].

On the face of the dinar, we find in the margin, “Muhammad is the Messenger of God, sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion.” In the center, “there is no god but God alone, without partner.” And in the center is "Mohammed Messenger of God OFFA REX".

This dinar appeared for the first time in the Rome sales hall, and may have been part of an annual gift or tribute to Pope Adrian I, as “Offa” promised to send 365 gold coins to the Pope every year[5].

The interpretations of historians and researchers about the real reasons that prompted King “Ofa” to mint this currency varied, so a group went to the fact that the rule of the dinar in the east and west of the Islamic world alike, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean by land and sea, and even in Andalusia and southern France in the era of Abd al-Rahman, the Umayyad interior And his children and grandchildren after him for two centuries, all of which made the Latin and European powers try to follow the same approach and mint a dinar bearing an Islamic character.

Charlemagne, King of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

This interpretation supports the fact that Charlemagne, King of the Holy Roman Empire and its heart by France, was the first initiator to strengthen relations with the Abbasids in the era of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, as they exchanged precious gifts, which made "Ova Rex" King of England seek to acquire some of this booty. By developing relations with the most powerful empires in the world at the time, by minting this currency to activate commercial transactions between him and the Muslims, and in order to open the way to accepting this currency in the Islamic world, which was reluctant to accept currencies with images of crosses, and then to facilitate trade and residence among Muslims without narrowing or persecution.

This is an opinion that was held on the head by the British historian "Blount" [6].

However, the emergence of this dinar and its discovery in Rome made some historians explain that it was caused by the discord in the papacy, to which the king of “Mercia” and the British island was paying her every year an annual tribute estimated at 365 gold dinars for each day of the year.

This interpretation is based on the well-known sharp disputes between “Offa” and the English churchmen and the Pope in Rome, and even between him and “Charlemagne” King of France and the Holy Roman Empire and the protector of the first cross in Europe, where “Offa” treated him as equals [7].

But the positions of the papacy and the Roman Church hostile to such expressions after the era of “Ofa” during the Crusades confirm that it would not have accepted that one of its followers, including “Ufa”, pay the annual tribute in a currency bearing clear Islamic expressions such as this dinar, and it happened that the Crusaders princes minted in Tripoli. Sidon coins bearing the name of the Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the Hijri date, the Pope’s delegate accompanying the crusade of Louis IX rejected that coin, which excludes the hypothesis of the papacy’s acceptance in Rome three centuries before the era of the Crusades while it was at the height of its power for such a coin coming from England, even if it was As a tribute from a Christian king, unless this king is on another religion[8].

Did King Offa embrace Islam then?

The pattern of minting the gold "Ufa" dinar with the presence of monotheism is very similar to the form of the Abbasid Baghdadi dinar, and not the Moroccan or Andalusian dinar;

This confirms that Ufa had a strong relationship with the Abbasid authorities, and that it allowed Muslim merchants to enter Britain in the eighth century AD to sell and buy what they wanted according to the mutual relations between the two sides.

Therefore, Dr. "Mustafa Al-Kinani" believes that the golden dinar sent to the papacy in Rome bearing the word monotheism is clear evidence of the entry of King "Offa" into Islam through Muslim merchants who opened the gates of Britain to them.

Al-Kinani says: “Since Muslim merchants were not just merchants, but were Islamic preachers at the same time and were fully aware of all matters of jurisprudence and the principles of da’wah and Islamic law as a whole, as well as what they were characterized by of good manners, correct behavior, integrity and honesty, so they were truly the best example that represents the Muslim By example, they gave the societies with which they traded bright images of Islam and Muslims... There is nothing to prevent the existence of some kind of direct contacts between some of these great Muslim merchants and Ufa, during which they discussed with him the concept of Islamic monotheism phrases engraved on the Abbasid dinars after being dazzled by their inscriptions.] 9].

It seems that these discussions developed for his call to Islam, and their discussion with him in all matters related to Christianity, and just as the Muslims who immigrated to Abyssinia were able to invite the Negus, the Christian King of Abyssinia to Islam under the leadership of Jaafar bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, it seems that these merchants were also able to succeed in their mission with King Offa, and perhaps he believed alone or with his family and his senior aides at the beginning of the matter, then announced the order and decided to mint this currency, some of which he sent as a tribute to the Pope in Rome as he had done previously, and the biggest evidence of this is the disappearance of the documents of the era of King “Offa”, although we obtained Documents of those who preceded him and those who followed him from the British kings, as described by Al-Kinani.

It is not surprising for Muslim merchants to play this role.

Because they did it best in the countries and islands of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, as well as the countries of East, West and Central Africa, and Islamic geography books tell us about Muslims’ knowledge of the British Isles, which the famous geographer “Al-Idrisi” named in his famous encyclopedia “Nuzha Al-Mushtaq fi Petrach Horizons” on Jazirah. Inglatara” (Inglatara, Engltara or Inkertara). Al-Idrisi discussed its most important cities at the time, including London, which he called “Landers” on the Natanzah River [10], meaning the Thames River today.

There is no doubt that Al-Idrisi’s knowledge of this British geography and his treatment of its most important cities, the distances between cities, their geography and the nature of their people is a product of the experience of Muslims who preceded him over the first five centuries in discovering these countries, as well as the scientific committee that he established for this purpose.

Whatever the historians’ interpretation of the reasons for the existence of the phrase monotheism on a British golden dinar 1200 years ago, this confirms beyond any doubt the strength of the Islamic state globally in its Abbasid era, especially in the times of Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, al-Hadi, al-Mahdi and al-Rashid, whether this strength was represented In the economy that forced the European and Latin powers to succumb to their culture and hegemony to mint a currency like this, or was it represented in the strength of Islamic preaching and diplomacy that might have convinced this powerful Christian king who ruled the British island to convert to Islam, despite obliterating this fact from the kings, patriarchs and politicians following his time.

____________________________________________________

Sources: