Arabic speakers. Do you think this translation is correct? [gelöst]

Hi All! On the Obverse of this coin, the following translation is given:

"The honorable Muhammadiyah railway
Year 1371" (1951/52)

I was investigating the 50 franc coin of the same year and ran the Arabic lettering through Google Translate. Needless to say, I was surprised when the English translation came back as: “The Holy Muhammadan Railway”. Thinking about it, and all the times that Google Translate has come back with something odd, I thought, Perhaps a more accurate translation might be “The Holy Muhammadan Path.”

My thinking was, “Railway>Track> Path.”

 If anyone who speaks Arabic (or just knows more than I do) can answer this, I would be grateful.

 Thanks, Arthur Yapp

I am no expert but the Arabic lettering appears to my coin reading eyes as - al sikka al muhammadiyah al sharifa alam 1371 frankat

The word sikkah means 'coin' “ sharifa " means noble,high born. So perhaps 'a coin of the honourable muhammad ??

Hopefully someone can enlighten us more or point out my errors of translation

Hi Vic65! Perhaps. All I can say is that ‘Noble’ is one of the words that Google Translate spat out at me when I ran the Arabic words through one by one, rather than as a sentence. Man, I would love to be able to read Arabic! I've almost got 1-10 sussed, any more seems like a far-off dream…

 Thanks for your input, let's hope some Arabic speakers get involved. Cheers, AY

Hello Arthur,

I have got a slightly better translation for this but my attempt was very close 😀 but it officially reads as al sikkat al Mohammadiyah esh sherifat which translates as “the coin of the Muhammadan Sherifate” Instead of being a Caliphate Morocco was a Sharifate, their rulers were called Sharifs.  I would say that is why it comes up as noble, high born in a search.

Reading Arabic is not so easy as they don't add any vowels in some parts of the words,  some scripts have diacritical marks to indicate the missing vowels . The word Muhammad for e.g.  has just 4 letters MHMD

Hi Vic65! 

 Thank you for your translation, which I will now rush to add to the description of the coin I am selling online, here in NZ. Arabic sounds like a complicated language to learn, but then, they say that of English which just rolls off my tongue… here, hair, hare, and all that… MHMD would be because you wouldn't want to turn the name of the Prophet (peace be upon him) into a picture or icon, I imagine. I'm not Muslim but a western Buddhist but I have an interest in all religions.

 Thanks again, mate, and all the best,  Arthur Yapp

I found this same reference on a Moroccan coin description and had a hard time believing that could be the right thing.  I spent about an hour trying to find something I'm sure I read somewhere once upon a time that would sound really smug and professional.   Not much better.

In Dick Johnson's Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology I was surprised to find not better than “Event date” which seems a little generic, or “Obsessive date” (Date repeated for political reasons.)

If you found better vocabulary, I'm all ears.  

Sorry I can't do a thing for your translation.

It’s easy to read for an Arabic speaker; it is clearly written as al-sikkatu al-muḥammadiyyatu al-sharīfatu.

السِّكَّة (al-sikka) → coin, mint, or die (used for striking coins)

المُحَمَّدِيَّة (al-muḥammadiyya) → Muhammadan, pertaining to Muhammad

الشَّرِيفَة (al-sharīfa) → noble, honorable

The adjective “noble” (sharīfa) was used because the ʿAlawite dynasty in Morocco claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad, a traditional source of religious and political legitimacy in the Islamic world. Such lineage claims  were often invoked to justify sovereignty and reinforce divine right to rule.

The phrase “al-sikka al-muḥammadiyya al-sharīfa” thus referred to the official minting authority under the ‘noble Muhammadan’ name.

This inscription appeared on coins during the French Protectorate period (1912–1956), with the earliest issues dating from 1952.

 Thanks, Riad_sb. If this topic wasn't solved before, it is now. I think the above answer is definitive, as is Vic's.

 Cheers, AY

 Edited.

Arthur Yapp

 Thanks, Riad_sb. If this topic wasn't solved before, it is now. I think the above answer is definitive.

 Cheers, AY

But it was already solved before! the new reply gives exactly the same end result

I agree with that. My brief comment above has been edited to reflect this. AY.

P.S. No offence, Vic. You dust off an answer quickly, you know… Sorry, I've been ill…  AY

No offence taken Guy 😆 l hope you Get well soon !

 Thanks, Vic. I'm okay, now, but wasn't for about three months. Complete lack of coin activity. It's tired me out, though. She'll be right, as they say here. All the best, Guy (AY)