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Lot 346
Governors of Oman. Nafi‘ b. ‘Abdallah. Circa AH 354-355 / AD 955-956. AV Dinar (24.2mm, 4.29 g, 11h). ‘Uman mint. Dated AH 354 (AD 965/6). Superb EF.
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Live Auction
Islamic Auction 9
Live bidding begins Apr 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM BST
(15d 22h 3m left for internet bidding)
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Description
Governors of Oman. Nafi‘ b. ‘Abdallah. Circa AH 354-355 / AD 955-956. AV Dinar (24.2mm, 4.29 g, 11h). ‘Uman mint. Dated AH 354 (AD 965/6). Obverse field: citing Nafi‘ b. ‘Abdallah in fourth line / Reverse field: citing the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Muti‘. Al-Fadhli –; cf. Morton & Eden 107 (22 October 2020), lot 94 (same dies). Tiny patch of staining on rim at 2h on obverse. Superb EF. Excessively rare.
Nafi‘ b. ‘Abdallah was a former slave, who had been freed by the Wajihid ruler Yusuf b. Wajih. He came to power in Oman during the early 350s/950s, although the precise timing and sequence of events is not clear. We know that the Wajihid governor 'Umar b. Yusuf still held Oman in AH 350, but Miskawayh reports that Mu'izz al-dawla, the Buwayhid ruler, made an abortive attempt to capture Oman in AH 352. Unfortunately, Miskawayh does not tell us against whom this expedition was sent, but this nevertheless confirms that Oman was not then under Buwayhid control.
Nafi‘ features prominently in Miskawayh's account of events in Oman during the year AH 354, which is when this coin was struck:
Mu‘izz al-dawla had despatched Kardak the Registrar to ‘Uman, where he was admitted to the ruler Nafi‘ who agreed to enter the allegiance of Mu'izz al-dawla, letting his name be mentioned in the hutba and inscribed on dirhams and dinars. Nafi‘ agreed to all of this and carried out the latter undertaking. But after the departure of Kardak, when the local people learned what Nafi‘ had done, they rose against him, drove him out of the place, and let in the followers of the Qarmatids of Hajjar, to whom they surrendered their town. The Qarmatids stayed within the city during the day, and at the end of the day retired to their camp. They wrote to their chiefs in Hajjar to tell them the news and receive instructions as to what they should do.'’(Miskawayh 212-213, adapted from Margoliouth's translation).
This passage states explicitly that Nafi‘ undertook to strike coins acknowledging the Buwayhid ruler Mu‘izz al-dawla. Assuming Miskawayh is correct on this point, the present coin must have been struck before Kardak arrived in Oman, since it names only Nafi' and the Abbasid caliph al-Muti‘, without any Buwayhid overlord.
Nafi‘ re-enters the scene in the following year, when he accompanied an army sent to Oman by Mu‘izz al-dawla. Commanded by Abu’l-Faraj Muhammad b. ‘Abbas, this force inflicted a comprehensive defeat on the Qarmatids, and brought Oman back under Buwayhid control. Abu’l-Faraj remained in Oman until AH 356, when he returned to Iraq on the death of Mu‘izz al-dawla, leaving the governorship of Oman in the hands of a local ruler named Ibn Nabhan. Nafi‘ fades from the picture thereafter; he seems to have played no further part in the complex history of Oman, and his fate is not known.
The final winners of all CNG Islamic Auction 9 lots will be determined during the live sale that will be held on 24-25 April 2025.
Islamic Auction 9 – Session Two – Lots 256–529 will be held Thursday afternoon, 25 April 2025 beginning at 2:00 PM GMT.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
Nafi‘ b. ‘Abdallah was a former slave, who had been freed by the Wajihid ruler Yusuf b. Wajih. He came to power in Oman during the early 350s/950s, although the precise timing and sequence of events is not clear. We know that the Wajihid governor 'Umar b. Yusuf still held Oman in AH 350, but Miskawayh reports that Mu'izz al-dawla, the Buwayhid ruler, made an abortive attempt to capture Oman in AH 352. Unfortunately, Miskawayh does not tell us against whom this expedition was sent, but this nevertheless confirms that Oman was not then under Buwayhid control.
Nafi‘ features prominently in Miskawayh's account of events in Oman during the year AH 354, which is when this coin was struck:
Mu‘izz al-dawla had despatched Kardak the Registrar to ‘Uman, where he was admitted to the ruler Nafi‘ who agreed to enter the allegiance of Mu'izz al-dawla, letting his name be mentioned in the hutba and inscribed on dirhams and dinars. Nafi‘ agreed to all of this and carried out the latter undertaking. But after the departure of Kardak, when the local people learned what Nafi‘ had done, they rose against him, drove him out of the place, and let in the followers of the Qarmatids of Hajjar, to whom they surrendered their town. The Qarmatids stayed within the city during the day, and at the end of the day retired to their camp. They wrote to their chiefs in Hajjar to tell them the news and receive instructions as to what they should do.'’(Miskawayh 212-213, adapted from Margoliouth's translation).
This passage states explicitly that Nafi‘ undertook to strike coins acknowledging the Buwayhid ruler Mu‘izz al-dawla. Assuming Miskawayh is correct on this point, the present coin must have been struck before Kardak arrived in Oman, since it names only Nafi' and the Abbasid caliph al-Muti‘, without any Buwayhid overlord.
Nafi‘ re-enters the scene in the following year, when he accompanied an army sent to Oman by Mu‘izz al-dawla. Commanded by Abu’l-Faraj Muhammad b. ‘Abbas, this force inflicted a comprehensive defeat on the Qarmatids, and brought Oman back under Buwayhid control. Abu’l-Faraj remained in Oman until AH 356, when he returned to Iraq on the death of Mu‘izz al-dawla, leaving the governorship of Oman in the hands of a local ruler named Ibn Nabhan. Nafi‘ fades from the picture thereafter; he seems to have played no further part in the complex history of Oman, and his fate is not known.
The final winners of all CNG Islamic Auction 9 lots will be determined during the live sale that will be held on 24-25 April 2025.
Islamic Auction 9 – Session Two – Lots 256–529 will be held Thursday afternoon, 25 April 2025 beginning at 2:00 PM GMT.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
