Coins of faith and power - transcript

[Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis] Safavid coins, in a way, continue a tradition that has been there for centuries.

They are important both from an economic point of view, from a monetary point of view, they were used for trading. And of course their inscriptions give messages to those who handled them, to the public.And the rulers used the inscriptions to talk about their religious affiliations.Then gradually the language changes from Arabic to Persian. And all this information comes through on these tiny little pieces, that may look very boring actually to the ordinary person.

This is a gold coin of Shah 'Abbas. It’s very small as you see. But it hides an awful lot of information on both sides. Now normally in Islamic coins you have in the centre: La ilah l‘illah, Muhammad rasul l'illah. There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger, his prophet. But here the bit about the prophet is actually around the centre. It says La ilah l'illah, around the central part, but bang in the middle, in the centre, it has the name of Imam 'Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet and the successor to the prophet seen by the Shi'ite Muslims. So it’s quite a message, quite an important message that is given here.

On the back of the coin you have information about the ruler who has minted the coin. And it says, in Persian, shah-e vilayat, the ruler of the kingdom of Imam 'Ali. And here again Shah 'Abbas is actually emphasising his allegiance to Imam ‘Ali the first Shi’ite Imam, the son-in-law of the Prophet.

Now this is an example of the most exquisite Persian nasta’liq calligraphy on a coin. The date is 1121, Hijra which corresponds to 1709, and the front always shows the proclamation of faith. So that’s how you know which is the front, which is the back. And again beautiful Persian nasta’liq. La ilah l’illah, Muhammadun rasul l’illah. So there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is his messenger and ‘Ali is his friend. Beautifully decorated also with flowers and dots. 

The back, gives the name of the ruler, the Safavid ruler Hussein. And here, like all the Safavid titles that the kings used, the ruler calls himself bandeh-ye shah-e vilayat, the servant or the slave of the kingdom of ‘Ali. And right at the end at the bottom of the coin, written beautifully, zarb-e Isfahan, minted at Isfahan in 1121, Hijra which corresponds to 1709. There is a clear message that the Persian aspect, the Iranian aspect of the Safavid dynasty, and the Safavid house, plays an important role and Persian is a very important part of the national identity of the Safavids.