MONEY

There are three coins mentioned in the Qurʾān, (1) Qint̤ār ( قنطار‎ ), (2) Dīnār ( دينار‎ ), (3) Dirham ( درهم‎ ), pl. Darāhim . (1) Qint̤ār . Sūrah iii. 68 : “Among the people of the Book are those to one of whom, if you entrust a qint̤ār , he will restore it.” In the Qāmūs , it is said that a qint̤ār was a gold coin of the value of 200 dīnārs , but Muḥammad T̤āhir, the author of the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār (p. 173), says it implies a very considerable sum of money, as much gold as will go into the hide of a cow. It is generally translated talent. (2) Dīnār . Sūrah iii. 68 : “There are those to whom, if thou entrust a dīnār , they will not restore it to thee.” It was the denarius, or a small gold coin. (3) Dirham . Sūrah xii. 20 : “And they sold him for a mean price, dirhams counted out.” A silver drachma. [ QINTAR , DINAR , DIRHAM , WEIGHTS .] Mr. Prinsep says: “The silver rupee ( rupya , silver piece), now current in Muslim countries, was introduced, according to Abulfazel, by Sher Shah, who usurped the throne of Delhi from Humayoon in the year 1542. Previous to his time, the Arabic dirhim (silver drachma), the gold dinar ( denarius auri ), and the copper fuloos ( follis ), formed the currency of the Moghul dominions. Sher Shah’s rupee had on one side the Muḥammadan creed, on the other the emperor’s name and the date in Persian, both encircled in an annular Hindee inscription. Since ‘the same coin was revived and made more pure,’ in Akber’s reign, we may a ume the original weight of the rupee, from Abulfazel’s statement, to have been 11¼ máshas. Akber’s square rupee, called from its inscription the jilály, was of the same weight and value. This coin was also called the chahár-yáree, from the four friends of the Prophet, Abubekr, Omar, Osman, Ali, whose names are inscribed on the margin. This rupee is supposed by the vulgar to have talismanic power.”