The gold dinar is engraved with a Kufic script with the phrase, "In the name of Allah, this dinar is minted in AH 77" (AD 696), and some Qur'anic verses of Al-Ikhlas Surah, "the purity of the faith." The Surah is what Allah says: "Say: He is Allah, the one and only, Allah the eternal, Absolute, He begetteth not, nor is He begotten and there is none like unto Him."

This dinar is regarded as the most ancient Islamic and Arabized coin. It is worth mentioning that the word "dinar" is derived from the Greek word "dinarus" which was the official coin of the Byzantine Empire, and continued to be used until the early Islamic era. The coins were Arabized after the Arabization of the diwans, and the dinars bearing the pictures of the Byzantine emperors were abandoned.

The Egyptian dinars had the name of the Umayyad caliph and the year of mint together with Qur'anic verses. With the rise of independent states, mintage become an important feature for political sovereignity.