Hello, the
attribution is coorect except the date is AH 295 (AD 907). To
help those learning to read Arabic the legends are as follows: The left (
obverse) image has at center the
Kalima "la ilah illa Allah/ wahdahu/ la sherikh kahu" or "There is no god but God alone. There are no others with Him". The inner circular
legend is the
mint and date formula which reads "bism Allah duriba haza al-dirham bi-Samarqand sanat khams wa tis'in wa mi'atain" or "in the name of God was struck this
dirham at Samarqand in the year five and ninety and two hundred". The outer marginal
legend is Qur'an 30:3-4. If you have
Plant, you can find it on p.48.
The right (
reverse) image reads at center; "lillah/ Muhammad / rassul Allah/ al-Muqtafi Billah/ Ahmad bin Isma'il". This begins with the dedication "to Allah" and then continues the
Kalima (Muhammad is the prophet of Allah) from the
obverse and then citing the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtafi as well as the Samanid ruler. The marginal
legend is Qur'an 9:33 (see
Plant p. 43).
The Caliph al-Muqtafi died in AH 295, the first year of Ahmad b. Isma'ils reign. Not only does this confirm the date but it must be relatively
rare for coins of this ruler to cite al-Muqtafi rather than al-Muqtadir who succeded al-Muqtafi as caliph.
Regards,
Dave Tranbarger