Four Arabic words around a square hole: Malik above, Aram in the right field, Yinal below, Qaraj in the left field / Blank. 25mm, 4.89 grams. Cf. Zeno 321961; Kamyshev's "Early Mediaeval Monetary Complex of Semirech'e" #49; V.N.Nastich. Monetnye nakhodki iz Kazakhstana i Kirgizii ('Coin Findings from Kazakhstan and Kirghizia'), - in: Vtoraia Vsesoiuznaia Numizmaticheskaia Konferentsiia (the 2nd All-Russian Numismatic Conference. Abstracts of papers and communications), Moscow, 1987, pp. 52-53.

Fascinating issue, fusing the Chinese-style coins with four characters with Arabic inscriptions. For the recent and now accepted re-attribution see: Belyaev V. A., Nastich V. N., Sidorovich S. V. Apropos of so-called ‘proto-Qarakhanid’ coins. Bulletin of the Research Institute of Cultural Properties, Teikyo University (2023), pp 67-70.

Yelü Dashi (r. 1124–1143) (courtesy name Zhongde, who was also known by his temple name as the Emperor Dezong of Western Liao) was a Khitan noble and military leader who founded the Western Liao dynasty (Qara Khitai) after the fall of the Liao dynasty to the Jurchens. Leading a group of Khitan refugees westward, he established his rule in Central Asia, asserting dominance over Turkic and Persian territories. His greatest achievement was the Battle of Qatwan in 1141, where he decisively defeated the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar, solidifying Western Liao's power. Ruling over a multiethnic empire, he maintained Khitan traditions while accommodating local cultures. His death in 1143 left a strong but eventually declining state, later absorbed by the Mongols.