In the year 98/716-717, bilingual dinars were minted in Al-Andalus, coinciding with the time when the capital of Al-Andalus was moved to Cordoba. The coins issued formed part of the process of change in Islamic currency, with a precedent to be found in coins minted in the Maghreb region. Both the bilingual dinars from the Maghreb and those from Al-Andalus were made in response to the change in currency carried out by Caliph Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Malik. However, the differences in the two are quite significant. 

Those from the Maghreb have legends at their margins in Latin, with the Profession of Faith in Arabic in the middle parts of the coin. However, the dinars from Al-Andalus show a reference to the type of coin and the location and year when they were issued, in both Latin and Arabic, in the marginal legends of both areas. However, the central space on the front side of the coin, instead of the tawhid, shows an eight-pointed star, with the back side stating Mohammed’s Prophetic Mission. 

Therefore, for the first time ever in coinage from Al-Andalus, the name “dinar” appears, as well as the date in Arabic and the name of “Al-Andalus.” As for the star, the “speaking emblem” of Al-Andalus since the first coins were issued there, it is believed to be a reference to the Greek name for the Iberian Peninsula: “Hesperia.” However, even as a “speaking symbol” of Al-Andalus, its direct point of reference may not have lay in the local Hispanic tradition, but rather in Eastern origins, because the star already formed an integral part of the iconography in Umayyad currency before Musa’s arrival on the Peninsula. 

Like so many other symbols on Eastern Umayyad coins, it may have had connotations of a religious nature. Last of all, though the coining of bilingual dinars in Al-Andalus may not have been the direct result of Cordoba’s status as the capital city, both were produced as part of the mission to achieve political and administrative control of the territory by al-Hurr.

With the participation of:

Almudena Ariza Armada, New York University

Almudena Ariza Armada has a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Medieval History and completed graduate studies in Inscriptions, Coins, Diplomacy and Archeology at the same university. She has taken part in several research projects and has received various scholarships from Spanish and European institutions. She is a member of several scientific committees and has authored many works on coins produced in Al-Andalus, published by acknowledged specialist journals (al-Qantara, Qurtuba, Numisma, Gaceta Numismática, OMNI, etc.). Since the year of 2000, she has been a professor for the International Programs at prestigious American universities, including Stanford University and New York University, where she teaches classes on Islam and its relationship with Spain, and on the history of Sefarad.