Umayyad Hisham AR Dirham, Wasit, AH 121–122, 738–739 CE

Hisham, Dirham, silver, 724–746, Wasit mint, AH 121 (738–739 CE), 2.87 g, 27 mm. Obverse: central field with the shahada “la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lahu”; marginal legend “bism Allah duriba hadha al-dirham bi Balkh sana 121.” Reverse: central field with Qur’an 112:1–4 “Allahu ahad, Allah al-samad, lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad”; marginal legend “Muhammad rasul Allah arsalahu bil-huda wa din al-haqq liyuzhirahu ‘ala al-din kullihi wa law kariha al-mushrikun.” Struck on a broad flan with clear central inscriptions and largely legible marginal legends; minor peripheral flatness. Reference: Album 137. Issued under the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, this post-reform epigraphic dirham follows the standard introduced a generation earlier that replaced figural motifs with Islamic declarations of faith and Qur’anic text. Wasit, founded by al-Hajjaj as an administrative and military center in Iraq, was a principal mint for eastern circulation during Hisham’s reign; coins dated AH 121 (738/739 CE) moved widely through Iraq, Khurasan, and adjacent trade routes, reflecting the fiscal integration of the empire and the propagative function of the reformed coinage.