Dinar of Abdallah al-Musta'sim

^cAbbasid dynasty, AH 643 / AD 1245-46
Minted in Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad), Iraq

Abdallah al-Musta'sim (reigned 1242-58) was the last ^cAbbasid caliph to rule in Baghdad, the Empire's capital. An incompetent and weak figure, who refused to recognize the Mongol threat, he was put to death by Hulegu, the Mongol conqueror of the Islamic lands following his sack of Baghdad in 1258. The ^cAbbasid line of caliphs in Baghdad that had begun with al-Safah in AD 750 had come to an end.

This gold dinar is striking for its beautifully executed Kufic script, in which the terminals of the letters are ornamented with swirling arabesques.