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'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Ma'mun. AH 194-218 / AD 810-833. AV Dinar (18mm, 3.72 g, 3h). Without mint-name. Dated AH 213 (AD 828/9). Citing Ahmad. Bernardi 115; Album A1050.4. Good VF, slightly clipped. Extremely rare.
The ‘Ahmad’ named here was Ahmad b. Muhammad al-‘Umari. Nicknamed ‘Ahmar al-‘Ayn (‘The Red-Eyed’), he took advantage of a period of instability in Yemen to seize power in the central highlands, expelling the caliphal governor Muhammad b. Nafi‘ in the process. This extremely rare dinar confirms that he felt sufficiently secure to assert his authority formally by placing his name on the coinage. However, al-Ma’mun replaced Muhammad b. Nafi‘ with a new governor, Abu’l-Radi Muhammad, who was sent with an army to pacify the Yemen and return it to caliphal control. On Abu’l-Radi’s arrival in San‘a, Ahmad b. Muhammad promptly sued for peace and an amnesty, which was granted to him. But Abu’l-Radi later thought better of this leniency and arrested Ahmad, sending him to al-Ma’mun in chains.
Closing Date and Time: at 14:26:20 ET.
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