_Abd-al-Malik's Reformed Currency._--Though one traditionist says that even Adam felt the need for money and struck dinars and dirhems, more reliable authorities agree in attributing to Abd-al-Malik, the fifth Omayyad Caliph (684-705 A.D.), the institution in 696 A.D. of a purely Muslim coinage, worthy of the great Arab empire and the foundations on which it was built. This coinage was of gold, silver, and copper, and the names _dinar_ (denarius aureus), _dirhem_ (drachma), and _falus_ (follis), which have remained in use practically to the present day, were borrowed from the Byzantines. The dinar originally weighed rather more than half a sovereign, while the dirhem was a little less than sixpence in English money, but the names came to mean simply gold and silver coin respectively. Mohammad's interdiction of any form of image-making, as savouring of idolatry, limited the orthodox Caliph to legends on his coins, but thereby gave Arab coins an importance as historical documents possessed by no other series. From the earliest times they bore the mint and date (in the Mohammadan era dating from 622 A.D.), and later the ruler's name and titles, often including valuable genealogical data, were added. The right of striking coins was one of the privileges of sovereignty, and Muslim coins thus throw a good deal of light on Arab history. Plate II. 6 is a dinar, and Plate II. 8 a dirhem of Abd-al-Malik; both bear on the obverse the profession of faith, "There is no god but God; He hath no associate:" around the reverse of the dinar is the legend, "In the name of God this dinar was struck in the year 77" (696 A.D.), while the similar inscription on the dirhem includes the mint (Damascus, 79 A.H.) and is placed around the obverse. On both the reverse areas is "God is alone; God is eternal; He begets not and is not begotten" (the dinar ends here, but the dirhem continues) "nor is there any one like unto Him" (Koran, cxii.). Around the obverse of the dinar and reverse of the dirhem is, "Mohammad is the prophet of God, sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all other religions" (dinar stops here), "averse though the idolaters may be" (Koran ix. 33).