Umayyads of Syria, 685-750 AD., Caliphate of Abd Al-Malik, Aleppo mint, Fals, Album 112.

The Umayyad Caliphate, (65-132 AH. / 685-750 AD.), the Caliphate of Abd Al-Malik bin Marwan (AH 65-86 / AD 685-705), Halab / Aleppo mint in northern Syria, ca. 693-697 AD.,
Æ Fals (20-22 mm / 2,77 g),
Obv.: clockwise from 12:00: "li-‘abd allah ‘abd al-malik amir al-mu’minin for the Servant of God" , (‘Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful) , the caliph standing facing, dressed in a jubbah (long robe), sword at his left waist, posing his hand on his sword.
Rev.: : around clockwise from 12:00: "la ilah illa allah wahdahu muhammad rasul allah" , (there is no god but God unique, Muhammad is the messenger of God in Arab legend around the margin, the two testimonies of Islamic unification), a column topped by a circle which represents two converging crescents having a ball above them (modified cross, transformed to Φ ), on steps, upwards in left field "halab" (mint name).
Album 112 ; SICA I, 696-699 ; Walker 108 ff .

This piece, the earliest coin that can be described as unquestionably Islamic, was struck in the name of the caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan sometime around the years 70-77 H (690-696 AD), and bears no Christian symbolism whatsoever.
The figure on the obverse is quite unlike those on the Byzantine prototype coppers, and is presumed to be that of the caliph. He has his hand on his sword, which has generally been understood to represent him as leader of the community defending the faith.
This is emphasised by the words around the figure – “For the Servant of God, ‘Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful”. On the reverse is found the so-called “transformed cross on steps”.
Instead of the cross which appears on the Byzantine coinage, there is a pole on three steps with a circle near the top. It is likely, however, that this simple explanation does not do full justice to the symbols, as they may represent an Old Testament concept symbolising God’s covenant with man marked by a stone of witness.
To add to the Islamic character of the coin, the words of the profession of faith are inscribed – “No god but God unique, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
The standing caliph coinage was issued at seventeen mints in Palestine and Syria, including Halab (Aleppo). It is believed that it ceased to be struck after the Umayyad reform coinage was introduced in the year 77 (696-697).

The Umayyads
When Ali, the fourth caliph and last Islamic religious and political leader with close personal ties to the prophet Muhammad, died in 661, the Arab governor in Syria seized power. Muawiya came from the Umayya clan in Mecca and founded the first hereditary Islamic dynasty, the Umayyads.
The Umayyads continued the rapid conquest of new territories, and the caliphate reached a size that has never been surpassed by a single Islamic realm. The Muslim armies invaded Afghanistan and penetrated into the Indus Valley in northern India and far into Central Asia to China’s borders. In the west, they took all of North Africa, occupied the Iberian Peninsula, and continued on expeditions deep into central France. They maintained pressure on the Byzantine Empire, both on the Mediterranean Sea and on land. Islamic armies invaded Anatolia and besieged Constantinople, but were later forced back to eastern Anatolia.

The center of the Umayyad Caliphate was Damascus, where the caliph resided. The language of the court, the civil service, and the religious class was Arabic, but the realm was administered according to principles adopted from the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. Partly because of conflicts among the Arab tribes, the realm did, however, lack internal stability, and for periods it was virtually in a state of civil war.

The Umayyads took many features from the territories that they had conquered, but a new Islamic culture also slowly began to take form. At the same time, the realm’s new subjects adopted the Arabic language and Islam. A powerful symbol of the new empire was the development of a special Islamic coinage. Large-scale building projects, such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque in Damascus, demonstrated the Umayyads’ artistic and political ambitions. They were built on sites where the temples and churches of other religions had stood before, and were embellished with extensive mosaic decorations and monumental Koranic sayings. The Umayyads’ palaces and hunting lodges in Syria were also richly ornamented, both inside and out. Sculptures and murals with princes and dancing girls show that rulers led a life of luxury in these “desert palaces.”

Apart from architecture, there are few artistic remains from the Umayyad period, and they are closely related to Late Antique, Byzantine, and Sasanian art. Works of art are often embellished with figurative elements such as animals and plants, frequently found as parts of large decorative patterns.