Muhammad al-Tabari: ‘Abd al-Malik Reforms the Coinage

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In this year, ’Abd al-Malik b. Marwān ordered dīnārs and dirhams inscribed, according to al-Wāqidī—Sa‘d b. Rāshid—Şāliḥ b. Kaysān.

According to Ibn Abī al-Zinād—his father: ‘Abd al-Malik struck dirhams and dīnārs that year; he was the first to initiate the striking of them.

According to Khālid b. Abī Rabī‘ah—Ibn Hilāl—his father: The pre-Islamic units of weight (mithqāls) by which ‘Abd al-Malik struck his coins were twenty-two qīrāṭs, minus a ḥabbah; ten weighed seven.

According to ’Abd al-Rahmān b Jarīr al-Laythī—Hilāl b. Usāmah: I asked Sa‘īd b. al-Musayyab how much the zakāt should be on dīnārs, and he said, “For every twenty mithqāls in Syrian weights, a half mithqāl.” I said, “Why Syrian rather than Egyptian?” He replied, “It is by the Syrian that dīnārs are struck, and that was the weight of the [old?] dīnārs before the dīnārs were struck; they were twenty-two qīrāṭs, minus a ḥabbah.” Sa‘īd said, “I know that, because I had sent some dīnārs to Damascus, and they were struck at that weight.”

In this year, Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥakam went to ’Abd al-Malik b. Marwān, and Abān b. ’Uthmān took charge of Medina; this was in Rajab (October-November 695).

In this year, Nawfal b. Musāḥiq b. ’Amr b. Khudāsh of the Banū ’Āmir b. Lu’ayy was appointed to the judiciary.

In this year, Marwān b. Muḥammad b. Marwān was born.

The pilgrimage was led in this year by Abān b. ‘Uthmān, who was amīr over Medina, according to Aḥmad b. Thābit—anonymous—Isḥāq b. ‘Īsā—Abū Ma’shar; and also according to al-Wāqidī. The governor of al-Kūfah and al-Bașrah was al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, and the governor of Khurāsān was Umayyab b. ‘Abdallāh b. Khālid. Shurayḥ was in charge of the judiciary in al-Kūfah, and Zurārah b. Awfā was in charge of the judiciary in al-Bașrah.

 

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Source: Reprinted by permission from The History of al-Tabari Vol. 22: The Marwanid Restoration: The Caliphate of 'Abd al-Malik A.D. 693-701/A.H. 74-81 translated by Everett K. Rowson, the State University of New York Press (c) 1987, State University of New York. All rights reserved.