Khutba wa sikka

In the Islamic world, the term khutba wa sikka (Arabic: خطبة و سكة, lit.

[3] As the power of the Abbasid Caliphate waned during the late 9th century, the numerous de facto autonomous rulers who emerged in the Islamic world such as Ya'qub al-Saffar or Ahmad ibn Tulun added their own names to the coinage underneath that of the caliph,[4] as the last vestige of Abbasid authority, but also as a token of caliphal recognition, suzerainty, and thus legitimacy for the new dynasties.

[6] The phrase qani'a fulan bi'l sikka wa'l-khutba ("he was satisfied with the coin and sermon"), reflecting this practice, came to mean someone who was master of something only in name, without real power.

[7] With the emergence of the rival caliphates of the Fatimids, Umayyads and Almohads, changes in coin design were undertaken deliberately to differentiate themselves from the Abbasid model and set forth the respective regimes' individual claims to authority.

[1] In this manner, changes to the rulers mentioned in the sermon and coinage, or the choice of specific legends on coins, became indicative of switches in the political and even religious allegiance of regional potentates or cities.