Abd al-Malik and the Shahāda Solidus

It is argued that ‘Abd al-Malik (685–705) chose the obverse of the so-called shahāda solidus that he began striking in c. 691 in order to provoke Justinian II (685–695, 705–711) into refusing to accept tribute in this coin. In this way, he hoped to manipulate Justinian into breaking the treaty between the Arab and Byzantine empires. His choice of obverse had nothing to do with Emperor Heraclius (610–641), even though it was based on a Heraclian prototype, but it alluded rather to the manner in which Justinian had risen to power and implicitly questioned the legitimacy of his rule.