Qatar Museums displays top six coins of the Islamic world

The six most important Islamic gold coins in the world are currently held in the Qatar Museums collection and will be exhibited together for the first time in history at The New York Times Art for Tomorrow Conference at the Museum of Islamic Art.These six Islamic coins in the “Masterpieces of Islamic Coinage in Doha” exhibition tell a story of the rise of Arab identity and the formation of the Islamic world.These coins are the earliest witnesses of Islam.They were struck as early as the century of the Prophet and they detail some of the first dated illustrations of the suras of the Holy Qur’an in history.Starting from imitations of Byzantine coins where the Christian symbols were deliberately taken away, the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, with his remarkable political spirit, ended up creating the first purely Islamic coin in 77 AH (696 CE). This marked the birth of the dinar which is still the currency used in many countries throughout the region today.During this creation process, other trial strikes resulted, namely the celebrated Standing Caliph gold coin, the world’s most important Islamic coin and the highlight of this show.Founder of Numismatica Genevensis Dr Alain Baron told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that Qatar has become one of the biggest collectors of Islamic coins collections, especially that these which have never been displayed before in the history of museums and collections, praising Qatar’s role as guarder of history and identity of the Islamic civilisation.Baron pointed out that coins have an important cultural role in society, stressing in this regard Qatar Museums’ mission aimed at raising the public awareness about lives and human habits during antiquity.“This is exhibition is the first step in the process of generating the awareness and publicity that this magnificent collection deserves,” he added The New York Times Art for Tomorrow Conference 2017, will explore the theme ‘Boundaries, Identity & the Public Realm’, and is organised in association with Qatar Museums.