When the Arabs conquered the Byzantine possessions in Syria at the end of the seventh century, they took over the "solidus" as their unit of gold, gave it Islamic types and called it a DINAR.
The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver Dirhams of the Sasanian Yezdigird III, struck during the caliphate of 'Uthman.
The first coinage in Islam was in the year 41 AH under the caliphate of Mu'awiya. These new coins which bore the name of dirham established the style of the Islamic silver coinage for the next five centuries . The side normally taken as the obverse has as its central legend the declaration of Faith, called the Kalima or Shahada. The reverse has a four line central inscription of the Qur'an the Surah 112 (Al-Ikhlas).
The marginal legend, known as the Prophetic Mission formula, states that the second Shahada and Qur'an IX, 33. "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, he was sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over every other deen, averse though the idolaters may be"
Well over 60 different mint-names appear on Umayyad Dirhams.
The production of Islamic gold coins began slightly earlier than the reformation of the silver coinage in 74 AH. This type was used for the whole of the Umayyad period, the coins being struck and carefully controlled at a standard of 4.25 gm.
The predominant coinage in much of the post-1200 Islamic world was of the Ottoman strand. Gold coins in denomination from 25 to 500 piastres were struck at Ankara until 1928.
In the Ottoman Empire, paper money was first used in 1265 AH (1840 A.D.). Later is was given up. It was used in 1268 AH for the second time and in 1279 AH for the third time, each time being superseded some time later. Its fourth monetization took place in 1294 AH (1877 A.D.) under the entitlement of the Ottoman Bank, and from then on it has been in use up till now, being changed every so often.
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