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Islamic Gold Dinar

Type Object Region Islamic world Time c. 900–1000

The Islamic dinar was a high-purity gold standard coin of the 10th-century Islamic world, circulating across West Asia, North Africa, and Mediterrane…

Timeline

  1. c. 900–930Baghdad · BaghdadThe Abbasid dynasty minted standard dinars at Baghdad and Samarra, about 4.25 grams of pure gold, with no human imagery on the coin, decorated with Quranic verses and the caliph's name, embodying Islamic monetary principles.
  2. c. 930–970Cairo · CairoThe Fatimid dynasty minted dinars in North Africa and Egypt, the remnant Umayyad regime at Córdoba and the Samanids in Central Asia also minted gold coins; the various polities largely recognized each other's weight and fineness, forming a polycentric pattern of gold coin circulation in the Islamic world.
  3. c. 970–990Samarkand · SamarkandDinars circulated along the Silk Road and Indian Ocean sea routes, serving as a means of large-value payment in trading centers such as Samarkand and Basra, supporting the settlement of long-distance luxury goods and spice trade.
  4. c. 990–1000Sicily · SicilyBy 1000 CE, Islamic dinars circulated alongside the Byzantine nomisma in Sicily, the Maghreb, and Mediterranean ports, with merchants and rulers exchanging them by fineness and weight, forming a dual-track international gold coin system in the Mediterranean of that period.

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