The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

;
340 'ABD AL-MELIK [chap. l.
A.H. 73-86. partner." " God is the One, and the Eternal God : He
Official
language
Arabic.
Reverses in
Africa,
62-69 A.H.
681-688 A.D.
did
not beget, nor was He begotten." " Mohammad is the
Apostle of God, sent with guidance and the religion of truth,
to make it prevail over all other religions."^ 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.n., so many churches were set on fire
that the year was called " The Year of Burning."
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-'Irak. The change was made at the suggestion
of a Persian Maula of Sijistan, Salih ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman.
With even greater energy, but more chequered fortune,
the Muslim forces were engaged in Africa. 'Okba pushed
his armies from Kairawan to the verge of the Atlantic.^
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.
is no doubt 'true that we find silver coins struck by 'Omar 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 Mu'awiya, 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-Hajjaj was
held the purest even by 'Abbasid Caliphs ;
but the pietists objected to
its use, because it had as its legend a verse of the Kor'an, which might
fall into the hands of the infidel, or of Muslims ritually unclean. For
the defect of a single grain, each of the loo workmen now employed in
the mint received 100 stripes ; making thus, we are told, " 10,000 stripes
for a single grain." Ibn al-Athir's chapter on this subject contains some
curious details on the new coinage, vol. iv. p. ^;^7.
- This expedition is probably an anticipation.
It