UMAYYAD, TEMP. IBRAHIM (126-127h) OR MARWAN II (127-132h), Dirham, al-Kufa 127h. Obverse: in border: five pairs of annulets. Weight: 2.92g Reference: cf Klat 548.b [dated 128h]. Obverse with some porosity and almost very fine, reverse very fine and toned, apparently an unpublished date. The history of Kufa during this period is complex. It was there in 127h that ‘Abdallah b. Mu‘awiya rebelled against the Umayyad governor during the month of Muharram, but he was expelled from the city and made his way to Isbahan, leaving Kufa still loyal to the Umayyads. Later that year, however, the city was taken by the Kharijite al-Dahhak b. Qays al-Shaybani, who installed a governor of his own there. It was this individual who struck dirhams at Kufa in 128h bearing the Kharijite slogan la hukma illa lillah in the obverse margin. Al-Dahhak was killed in battle in 128h by Marwan II, whose governor Yazid b. ‘Umar b. Hubayra routed the Kharijites in Kufa and returned the city to Umayyad control. Yazid b. ‘Umar issued his own dirhams at Kufa in 128h and 129h. This previously unpublished coin demonstrates that Kufa had already been reopened as a dirham mint before the Kharijites began to strike coins there in 128h.
Tax: AMS