Ghaznavid: Mas’ud AR Dirham, Mint and Date Off-flan, 3.54g, 18.4mm, Album-1621
Citing both the Abbasid Caliph Al-Qadir Billah and his designated heir Al-Qaim B’Amr Allah.
Masud’s reign has an overlap of about two months with the reign of the Abbasid caliph Al-Qadir Billah. Hence, this dirham can be dated to 421/22 AH, however gold issues from Nishapur dated 423 AH citing both Al-Qadir (deceased) as Caliph and Al-Qaim as heir apparent are known. (SARC Auction – 13, Lots 710, 711). The existence of these dinars increases the margin of error around the 422 AH estimate, and therefore the only safe thing to assume about the date is that the coin was minted in the very early part of Masud’s reign which spanned from 1030-1040 CE (421-432 AH).
The coin legends are as follows:
Obverse:
Ornate symbol at the top of center field followed by the first part of Shahadah:
لا اله الا الله وحده لا شريك له
La Ilaha Illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lahu
The margin is mostly off-flan and a part of it “duriba hadha dirham ضرب هذا الدرهم ” (translation: struck this dirham....) can be seen at 7-11 o clock cc.
Reverse:
Lillah at the top center field
Line-1: Muhammad (PBUH) Rasul Allah (second part of the Shahadah)
Line-2: Al-Qadir Billah
Line-3: Al-Qaim B’Amr Allah
Line-4: Nasir Din Allah (Helper/Supporter of the Religion of Allah, one of the official titles (alqab (singular laqab)) of Mas'ud.