The fals ( ar, فلس, fals, plural ''fulus'') was a medieval copper

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in orde ...

first produced by the

Umayyad caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

(661–750) beginning in the late 7th century. The name of the coin is derived from the ''

follis The follis (plural ''folles''; it, follaro, ar, فلس, Fels) was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions. Roman coin In the past, the term ''follis'' was used to describe a large bronze Roman coin introduced in about 294 (the ...

'', a Roman and later

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

copper coin. The fals usually featured ornate Arabic script on both sides. Various copper fals were produced until the 19th century. Their weight varied, from one gram to ten grams or more. The term is still used in modern spoken Arabic for money, but pronounced 'fils'. The plural form ''fulus'' فلوس is used in contemporary dialects of Arabic (e.g. Egyptian, Iraqi) as a general term for "money". The French term ''folous'' is borrowed from Arabic. It is also absorbed into

Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi: , Rencong: ) is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of the Philippines ...

through the word ''fulus'' .

In popular culture

* The Malay derivant ''fulus'' was used as basis for naming the fictional setting of Metrofulus in the 2006 Malaysian superhero film '' Cicakman''.

References

{{Islamic banking and finance Coins Coins of the medieval Islamic world Umayyad Caliphate Islamic banking Islamic banking and finance terminology

In popular culture

See also

References