Fatimid Caliphate, al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh Nizār, AR ½ Dirham

975-996 AD

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Article code: 26-2708
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Al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh, whose personal name was Nizār, was the fifth Fatimid Caliph and ruled from AD 975 to 996. He succeeded his father, al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, shortly after the Fatimid court had transferred from North Africa to the newly founded city of Cairo. His reign was a period of consolidation and prosperity, during which Fatimid authority extended across Egypt, parts of North Africa, Palestine and Syria.

The coinage of al-ʿAzīz retained the distinctive concentric design introduced during his father’s reign. Arabic inscriptions were arranged in circular bands around a central pellet, creating the characteristic Fatimid ‘bull’s-eye’ appearance. The legends proclaimed the Caliph’s name and titles, the Islamic profession of faith and references to ʿAli reflecting the Ismaʿili Shiʿi identity of the Fatimid dynasty.

Silver half-dirhams were struck at several mints throughout the Fatimid territories and were intended for everyday transactions. Their thin, irregular flans and extensive circulation mean that surviving examples are frequently worn, cracked or only partially legible.