fals

{{About|the coin|other uses|Fals (disambiguation)}}

{{Redirect|Fulus|the modern unit of account|Fils (currency)}}

{{Short description|Medieval copper coin issued by the Umayyad caliphate}}

Image:Umayyads - fals of Damascus.jpg

Image:Abbasid copper coin from Jerusalem, AH 219.jpg, 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»).]]

Image:MansurISamanidCoinHistoryofIran.jpg, minted in Bukhara, AH 353 (964 CE), commemorating the Abbasid caliph al-Muti]]

The fals ({{Plural abbr|fulus}}; {{langx|ar|فلس}}) 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.{{cite book |title=Urban network evolutions : towards a high-definition archaeology |date=31 December 2018 |publisher=Aarhus University Press |location=Aarhus |isbn=9788771846386 |page=118}} 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.

The term is still used in modern spoken Arabic for money, but pronounced 'fils'.Stephen Album, Checklist of Islamic Coins, Santa Rosa, CA, 2011, third edition, p. 7 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 {{lang|ar|فولوس}}.{{Cite dictionary|last=|first=|date=|title=fulus|url=http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/cari1?keyword=fulus|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=6 September 2020|website=|publisher=Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia|via=Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu|edition=4th|dictionary=Kamus Dewan}}