28.10.08

Old School English Islamic Economics?

King Offa was the King of Mercia (south of England) from 757 till 796 of the christian era.

He minted some coins with the first kalima engraved on them

Was he a bro, a broad hearted man, or was he doing islamic finance 'british style'? ... by making money off (andalusian) arabs by playing language tricks.

I shall eventually post a picture here of a replica.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam (writing under the pseudonym Professor Leon) answered this question quite satisfactorily back in 1916.

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/bmh/BMH-AQ-offa.htm

"That the piece was not a coin intended for general circulation, but was struck specially as a mancus and as one of the quota of 365 gold pieces which Offa had vowed to pay annually to the Pope of Rome."

Wa s-salam, Yahya