After the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

brought the nascent

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

into contact with the numismatic traditions of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

, whose lands they took over, the

Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

developed its own, distinctive tradition of

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

. Islamic currency consisted of gold (

dinars The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

), silver (

dirham The dirham, dirhem or drahm is a unit of currency and of mass. It is the name of the currencies of Moroccan dirham, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates dirham, United Arab Emirates and Armenian dram, Armenia, and is the name of a currency subdivisi ...

s), and copper or bronze (

fals The fals (; ) was a medieval copper coin first produced by the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) beginning in the late 7th century. The name of the coin is derived from the ''follis'', a Roman coinage, Roman and later Byzantine coinage, Byzantine ...

) coins, as well as their fractions and multiples. Initially these coins followed pre-Islamic patterns in iconography, but under Caliph

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life in ...

, a distinctive Islamic dinar type was created that eschewed images and carried the Islamic profession of faith. In the eastern parts of the caliphate, silver

Arab–Sasanian coinage Arab–Sasanian coinage is a modern term used to describe Islamic coinage struck in the style of the Sasanian coins, coinage of the Iranian peoples, Iranian Sasanian Empire (224–651) after the Muslim conquest of Persia, on behalf of the Muslim g ...

continued to be minted into the 9th century, before it was also replaced by Islamic patterns. The right to mint coins in one's own name became one of the chief attributes of sovereingty in Islam, and as autonomous and independent dynasties multiplied with the break-up of the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

in the 10th century, distinctive styles and sub-currencies emerged in the various states and regions as they sought to differentiate themselves from the Abbasid standard (e.g.

Fatimid coinage Fatimid coinage comes from the Fatimid Caliphate, an Isma'ili Shi'a empire that ruled large parts of North Africa, western Arabia, and the Levant, first from Tunisia (Ifriqiya) and then from Egypt. The coinage was minted after the typical pattern ...

). The typical Islamic coinage came to an end in the 19th and 20th centuries, as Muslim states adopted Western-style coinage practices and motifs.

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{EI2 , last = Miles , first = G. C. , author-link = , title = Dirham , volume = 2 , pages = 319–320 , url= https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1875 , ref={{harvid, Miles, 1965b Currencies of Africa Currencies of Asia Currencies of Europe