Ḍuriba bi-Mālṭa ‘minted in Malta’ : deciphering the Kufic legend on the Fāṭimid quarter dinar

Abstract

Until the acquisition, by the Central Bank of Malta in 2010, of the gold Fāṭimid quarter dinar, it was inconceivable that Arab Malta could have had its own coinage. Helen W. Brown, in her article about the coins of Muslim Malta, states that “It is not, on the basis of present evidence, suggested that any Muslim coins were struck in Malta itself.” Quite obviously, this acquisition was bound to revive memories of the ‘great Mdina hoard’ of gold coins found in 1698 and known from the descriptions of Ciantar’s Malta Illustrata in 1771.

It is indeed amazing that the Arab Fāṭimid quarter dinar minted in Malta, whose circumference hardly exceeds 38 millimetres, and weighing 1.30 grams, is inscribed with about 80 letters on its obverse, and more than 70 letters on its reverse. The reservations concerning the obverse side of the coin stem from the fact that here the coin is somewhat less well preserved, and therefore much less legible than the reverse. This write-up tackles the central and marginal legends inscribed on both sides of the quarter dinar. [excerpt]