Vladimir N. Nastich (Russia) Persian Legends on Islamic Coins: from Traditional Arabic to the Challenge of Leadership  The tradition of placing Persian inscriptions on Islamic coins goes back to the middle of the 7th century AD, namely the time of the ―righteous‖ caliphs ‛Uthman and ‛Ali, when silver and copper coins struck in the eastern provinces of the recently established Arab caliphate copied the widespread Sasanian types provided with new legends in Pahlavi script. The names of Arab governors and other officials placed on the coins were reproduced in Middle Persian; the ca- liph‘s title amƯr al-mu’minƯn, ‗commander of the faithful‘, was first engraved on the coins in Pahlavi (admittedly mixed with Arabic) ― ’myl y wylwyšnyk’n amƯr-i virōišnƯkƗn (Fig.1) 1 , and even the shahƗdah (Muslim creed or symbol of faith) made its initial appearance on the Sistani Zubayrid Arab- Sasanian drachms in 72AH/691–92AD translated into Pahlavi 2 . Fig.1. Arab-Sasanian AR Drachma, Caliph Mu‛awiya, Darabgerd 43AH However, this practice was soon discontinued as the ―purely‖ Islamic coins were introduced by the Umayyad caliph ‛Abd al-Malik by the very end of the 7th century AD. The new caliphal coinage, intended to replace the Arab-Sasanian, Arab-Byzantine and other hybrid types, was emphatically suited for the dogmatic requirements of the Muslim state: the ―Kufic‖ dinars and dirhams were devoid of any images, just with a simple ornamental setting, and designed with Arabic le- gends which, alongside the language itself, would henceforth become an obliga- tory element of coin design consecrated by Islamic common law. Nevertheless, even a few rare exceptions from this rule can be good evidence of the fact that  Author‘s updated and partly revised copy. The original version has been published in The 2 nd Simone Assemani Symposium on Islamic Coins [Polymnia. Numismatica antica e me- dievale. Studi, 1], Trieste 2010, p. 165–190.