ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY AND PRACTICErule according to Sasanian traditions of statecraft, as well as a lack
of appreciation or concern on the part of the Muslims themselves at
first concerning the meaning of the portrait and the date on these
coins. Fifth, the very employment of the royal portrait and the Magian
and astral symbols on these coins are an indication that the need to
maintain their acceptability by the use of existing and easily recog-
nizable forms outweighed any religious objections to the use of such
non-Islamic symbols. Indeed, there do not seem to have been any such
objections at first.
On the other hand, although the style of the previous Sasanian coins
was maintained in all its details, since the beginning a legend in Kufic
script, usually "in the name of God" (Ar. bismilliih), was added to
the margin of the obverse on the Arab-Sasanian cbins. The presence
of the bismilliih is the only part of these coins that could have identified
them as Islamic to a Muslim Arab, and it may have been thought that
this was all that was necessary to offset the Sasanian and Magian
symbolism. It is worth noticing, however, that no change was made
in the internal arrangement of the design on these coins but that the
bismilliih was put in the margin. The presence of the star and crescent
on these coins is also noteworthy because it marks the first official use
of this motif by the Islamic state. The Sasanian origin of this motif
and its astral significance are equally indisputable, but the later use of
the star and crescent as an Islamic emblem does not seem to have been
derived from these coins. This fact in itself would indicate that the
Muslims were unconcerned at first about the imagery on Sasanian
coins.s3
Beginning in the reign of Mu'awiya, several changes made in the
Arab-Sasanian coins indicate a growing concemIor the internal sym-
bolism and purpose of the coins. Although coins of the earlier type
continued to be minted, coins now began to appear with the date in
the era of the Hijra. Also, the portrait of Khusraw Parviz continued
to be used on the ·obverse, but his name, on occasion, was replaced
by that of the. Muslim Commander of the Faithful or a governor. As
early as A.H. 411A.O. 661, coins were struck for Mu'awiya at Oar-
abjird in Fars bearing that date in the era of the Hijra with the afzut
legend behind the head of Khusraw's portrait, but in place of his name
53 Walker, Arab-Sassanian Coins, pp. clvi, 9, 10, 13. For a discussion of the meaning
of these symbols and of the representation of Sasanian crowns in the mosaics on the
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the paintings at Qusayr 'Amra as signifying the
fall and subjection of the Sasanians to triumphant Islam, see O. Grabar, "The Umayyad
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem," Ars Orientalis 3 (1959), 48-52, pI. 3, fig. 5.