The Idrisid dirham () was a silver coin minted under the

Idrisid dynasty The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ') were an Arabs, Arab Muslims, Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I of Morocco, Idris I, the Idrisids were ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the western

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

Name

The word "dirham" () comes from ''

drachma Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma The drachma ( ) was the official currency of modern Greece from 1832 until the launch of the euro in 2001. First modern drachma The drachma was reintroduce ...

'' (δραχμή), the Greek coin.''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'', 1st edition
s.v. 'dirhem'
/ref> "Dirham" is also the name of the currency in use in Morocco today. Idris I was the founder of the Idrisid dynasty.

History

They were first struck under Idris I (788–791) in Tudgha and

Volubilis Volubilis (; ; ) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco, situated near the city of Meknes, that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the kin ...

. Ultimately, they were minted at approximately 20 different workshops.

Description

Inscriptions on the coins indicate the dynasty's ''

Zaidiyyah Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

alignment. They promoted the dynasty's lineage tracing back to Ali, which gave the dynasty legitimacy. The Iraqi

Kufic script The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...

on these coins influenced the early development of

Maghrebi script Maghrebi script or Maghribi script or Maghrebi Arabic script () refers to a loosely related family of Arabic scripts that developed in the Maghreb (North Africa), al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula, Iberia), and Sudan (region), ''Bilad as-Sudan'' (th ...

.{{Cite book, last=حجي، محمد., url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/49744368, title=معلمة المغرب : قاموس مرتب على حروف الهجاء يحيط بالمعارف المتعلقة بمختلف الجوانب التاريخية والجغرافية والبشرية والحضارية للمغرب الاقصى : بيبليوغرافيا الاجزاء الاثني عشر المنشورة, date=2000, publisher=Maṭābiʻ Salā, isbn=, location=, page=3749, oclc=49744368 The Kufic script on these coins is basic and unembellished, reflecting the economic status of the Idrisid state.

Use

Idrisid dirhams circulated widely in the Middle East, and have been found as far as

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

References

Silver coins Idrisid dynasty Islamic banking Currencies of Morocco Coins of Morocco Coins of the medieval Islamic world