"Fulus" redirects here. For the modern unit of account, see Fils (currency).
The fals (Arabic: فلس, romanized: fals, plural fulus) 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 and later Byzantine copper coin.[1] 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.
A fals minted in Damascus between 696 and 750Fals of al-Ma'mun, AH 219 (834/5 CE), al-Quds (Jerusalem). Under the Umayyads Jerusalem was known by its Roman name Iliya Filastin ("Aelia Palaestina"), but from the time of Caliph al-Ma'mun, it was given the Islamic religious name al-Quds (meaning «holiness» or «sanctity»).Fals of Mansur ibn Nuh, minted in Bukhara, AH 353 (964 CE), commemorating the Abbasid caliph al-Muti
The term is still used in modern spoken Arabic for money, but pronounced 'fils'.[2] 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 through the word fulusفولوس.[3]
