A.H. 73–86.
partner." "God is the One, and the Eternal God: He did not beget, nor was He begotten." "Moḥammad is the Apostle of God, sent with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all other religions."[1] The amity of the two Courts thus rudely broken, war was prosecuted vigorously. Its fortune varied. In 79 A.H., Antioch was seized by the Greeks for a time; and under Justinian severe reverses were inflicted on the Muslims. On the other hand, the latter took many strongholds in Asia Minor, and penetrated as far as Erzerum. The people on the borderlands of Syria and Armenia suffered greatly in this chronic warfare; and in 84 A.H., so many churches were set on fire that the year was called "The Year of Burning."
Official language Arabic.A second important innovation was that the Government business and accounts were carried on in Arabic instead of in Greek, as they had been in Syria, or in Persian, as they had been in Al-ʿIrāḳ. The change was made at the suggestion of a Persian Maulà of Sijistān, Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān.
Reverses in Africa,
62–69 A.H.
681–688 A.D.With even greater energy, but more chequered fortune, the Muslim forces were engaged in Africa. ʿOḳba pushed his armies from Ḳairawān to the verge of the Atlantic.[2] At Tangier he heard from Count Julian a tempting account of the prize that lay across the strait; but the attempt on the Spanish coast was not to be just yet. The Berbers were
- ↑ Weil, guided by discovery of Muslim coins prior to this reign, relates this incident somewhat differently from our Arab authorities. It is no doubt ‘true that we find silver coins struck by ʿOmar in the old Persian mints with short sentences as "Praise be to the Lord," etc.; and this went on, more or less, throughout the reign of Muʿāwiya, who struck golden coins with the design of a sword. It may be true, also, that local governors coined Muslim money before this reign. But notwithstanding, the Greek and old Persian currencies held their ground throughout the Empire until now. It was not till this reign, as we are distinctly told by Arabian writers, that the Muslim coinage became trustworthy either in weight or touch. The mintage of Al-Ḥajjāj was held the purest even by ʿAbbāsid Caliphs; but the pietists objected to its use, because it had as its legend a verse of the Ḳorʾān, which might fall into the hands of the infidel, or of Muslims ritually unclean. For the defect of a single grain, each of the 100 workmen now employed in the mint received 100 stripes; making thus, we are told, "10,000 stripes for a single grain." Ibn al-Athīr's chapter on this subject contains some curious details on the new coinage, vol. iv. p. 337.
- ↑ This expedition is probably an anticipation.
