Fals

This article is about the coin. For other uses, see Fals (disambiguation).

"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] As common with most Islamic coinage, the fals was aniconic and 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 750

Fals 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 flouze is borrowed from Arabic. It is also absorbed into Malay language through the word fulus فولوس.^[3]

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.

See also

• Money portal
• Numismatics portal

Daughter currencies:

• Fils, a subdivision of the dinar, dirham or rial
• Falus, coin of Morocco (1672–1901)