Saudi Arabia Banknotes 1 Riyal Note 1961
One Riyal Note: First Issue, printed during the reign of King Saud.
Obverse: Contains a view al-Nur Mountain (in Mecca), the security thread and the water mark. To the left appears the commitment by SAMA to pay the bearer the value of one riyal. At the top appears the name of the "Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency" and the number and date of the Decree by virtue of which the note was issued. At the bottom appear the serial number, the signatures of the Minister of Finance and the Governor, and the value of the note. In the comers, the value of the note in (Eastern) Arabic numerals.
Reverse: In the middle appears an Islamic ornament and the Kingdom's emblem with the name of His Majesty, King Saud under that. At the top appears the name of SAMA in English. The value of the note in English words and numbers is also given
Size: 128 × 62 mm. Color: Reddish Brown
Saudi Arabia banknotes - Saudi Arabia paper money
L. AH1379 - ND (1961) Issue
By the Regulations for Currency, stipulated under the Royal Decree No. (6), dated (1/71379 H.), the First Issue of Saudi banknotes was put in circulation on (1/1/1381H.) corresponding to (14/6/1961G), during the Reign of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz. This 1st Issue included the One Hundred, the Fifty, the Ten, the Five and the One Saudi Riyal denominations. This issue was withdrawn from circulation on (1/5/1391H.) corresponding to (24/6/1971G.).
1 Riyal 5 Riyals 10 Riyals 50 Riyals 100 Riyals
Jabal al-Nour (also Jabal an-Nur or Jabal Nur), which can be translated from Arabic جبل النور as "The Mountain of Light" or "Hill of Illumination", is a mountain near Mecca in Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Mecca. The mountain houses the famed Ghar-E-Hira or Hira cave. The cave is quite small, four arm's length long by 1.75 arm's length wide. The mountain is barely 640m tall. It does however, take two hours to make it to the cave and is extremely strenuous on the individual. However, the mount and the cave hold tremendous significance for Muslims throughout the world. The Islamic prophet Muhammad is said to have spent a great deal of time in the cave meditating and it is believed that he had received his first revelation from the archangel Gabriel, inside this cave from God.
Since this is where Muhammad is said to have received the first verses of the Quran, the mountain was given the title "Jabal-al-Nour". "Jabal" in Arabic means mountain and "Nour" or "Noor" means light or enlightenment. This experience is sometimes identified with the beginning of revelation; hence the present name. As for the exact date of the first revelation it can be seen through investigation to fix the time to Monday the 21st of Ramadan at night, i.e. August, 10, 610 C.E. or exactly 40 lunar years, 6 months and 12 days of age i.e., 39 Gregorian years, 3 months and 22 days.