English: Original caption:

ISLAMIC, Syria & al-Jazira (Pre-Seljuq). Qaramita (Qarmatids). al-Hasan ibn Ahmad. fl. AH 361-364 / AD 972-975. AV Dinar (22mm, 3.27 g, 1h). Filastin (al-Ramla) mint. Dated AH 361 (AD 971/2). First portion of the kalimat at-tawḥīd: lā ilāha illā-llāhu waḥdahu lā sharīka la (there is no god except Allah, and one [is] he; (there is) no partner to him) and al-sadat al-ru’asa (the chief sayyids) in five lines; in outer margin, Sura 30 [al-rum]:3-4 li-’llah al-amru min qablu wamin ba’du wayawma-idhin yafrahu al-mu’minūna binaṣri al-lahi (To Allah is the will before and after and on that day the believers shall rejoice in Allah’s victory); in inner margin, b-ismi-llāh zarb hazā āl-dinar bi-filastin fī sanat ihdā wa sittīn wa thelath mi’at (in the name of Allah struck this dinar in Filastin in the year one and sixty and three hundred (after the Hijra)) / Second portion of the kalimat aṭ-ṭaiyibah: muḥammadur rasūlu -llāh, ṣallā Allāhu ‘alayhi wa-ala ālihi (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family), name of ’Abbasid caliph al-Mutī'a, and name of al-Hasan ibn Ahmad in five lines; li-’llah above; in outer margin, the “Umayyad Second Symbol” (Sura 9 [al-tauba]:33): [muḥammadur] rasūlu-llāh arsalahu bi-’lhudā wa dīn al-haqq lī-yuzhirahu ’ala al-dīn kollihi walau ka[riha al-mushrikūn] (Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; him He sent with guidance and true faith to make it prevail over all other faiths even though the polytheists may hate it). Vardanyan, Sectarians 11; Album 684; ICV 803. Good VF, minor weak strike at periphery. Very rare.

Qaramita was the popular nickname of a group of Isma’ili Shīas. After challenging unsuccessfully the ‘Abbasids, the Qaramita established an Isma’ili republic in eastern Arabia. From there, they raided western Arabia and Iraq, stealing the Black Stone of the Kaaba during a raid on Mecca. In AD 909, al-Mahdi, the Qaramita candidate for caliph, with the help of the Berbers, established the Fatimid dynasty.