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'Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Mu'tazz. AH 252-255 / AD 866-869. AV Dinar (19.4mm, 4.22 g, 8h). Makka mint. Dated AH 252 (AD 866). Bernardi 162Ef; Album 235.1. Minor edge marks. Fine. Extremely rare, only two examples recorded by Bernardi.
This coin bears witness to a series of dramatic events in Mecca during the years AH 251-2, which al-Tabari describes as follows:
In this year, Isma‘il b. Yusuf b. Ibrahim b. ‘Abdallah b. al-Hasan b. ‘Ali b. Abi Talib rebelled in Mecca, forcing Ja‘far b. al-Fadl b. ‘Isa b. Musa, the governor, to flee. Isma‘il b. Yusuf looted Ja‘far's residence as well as the residences of the government's men, killing the troops and a group of Meccans. He also seized the funds that had been brought for repairing the water fountain, the gold kept at the Ka‘bah, and the gold, silver, perfumes and coverings of the Ka‘bah which were in the city treasure house. He also confiscated some two hundred thousand dinars from the people, opened Mecca to looting, and burned some of it...Fifty days later he left the city and went to Medina where ‘Ali b. al-Husayn b. Isma‘il, its governor, had gone into hiding. But Isma‘il returned to Mecca and laid siege to it until its population began to die from starvation and thirst. Prices reached as high as one dirham for three awaq of bread and four dirhams for a ratl of meat; the price of a drink of water reached three dirhams. After inflicting all kinds of calamities on the populace of Mecca, he left for Jiddah fifty-seven days later.
On the day of ‘Arafat, Isma‘il b. Yusuf came to the place of assembly, where there were Muhammad b. Ahmad b. ‘Isa b. al-Mansur, known as Ka‘b al-Baqar, and ‘Isa b. Muhammad al-Makhzumi, commander of the Mecca garrison. Both had been sent
by al-Mu‘tazz to the city. He engaged them in combat, causing the death of some eleven hundred pilgrims. Subjected to robbery, the people fled to Mecca and did not assemble at ‘Arafat during the night or day; however, Isma‘il and his followers did assemble there before returning to Jiddah and looting everything there.
(al-Tabari XXXV, 218-220, translated by George Saliba, SUNY Press, 1985).
Al-Tabari tells us nothing more about, beyond briefly noting the death of Isma‘il b. Yusuf during the year AH 252. But other accounts report that Ja‘far b. al-Fadl was compelled to strip the gold from the Maqam Ibrahim in order to strike coins during the defence of Mecca against Isma‘il b. Yusuf. Thus it is possible that the gold used to strike this coin may have come from the Maqam Ibrahim, the stone which according to Islamic tradition bears the impression of the Prophet Abraham’s footprints from the time when he constructed the Ka‘bah, and which was embellished with gold by al-Mahdi and al-Mutawakkil.
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