ISLAMIC, Seljuks. Great Seljuk. Tughril I Beg Muhammad, AH 429-455 / AD 1038-1063. Dinar (Gold, 23 mm, 3.93 g, 4 h), al-Rayy, AH 451 = 1059/60. Citing the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Qaʾim bi-amr Allah (AH 422-467/AD 1031-1075), ‘lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū / al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him. al-Qaʾim bi-amr Allah’ in Arabic); in the inner margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi al-Rayy sana iḥdā wa khamsīn wa arbaʿa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dinar was struck in al-Rayy in the year 451’ in Arabic); in the outer margin, ‘li-llāh al-amr min qabl wa min baʿd wa yawmaʾidhin yafraḥu al-muʾminūn bi naṣr Allāh’ (‘To Allah belongs the command before and after, and on that day the believers will rejoice with the help of Allah’ in Arabic; Qurʾān 30: 4-5). Rev. ‘li-llāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / al-sulṭān al-muʿaẓẓam / shāhānshāh / Ṭughril Bik / Abū Ṭālib’ (‘For Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. The great sultan, King of Kings, Tughril Beg Abu Talib’ in Arabic, with the Persian word ‘shāhānshāh’); to right and left, ‘Rukn – al-Dīn’ (‘Rukn al-Din’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic). Album 1665. Somewhat clipped and with light doubling, otherwise, very fine.

From the collection of a Swiss scholar, formed over the past thirty years.