Fils (currency)

The fils (Arabic: فلس) is a subdivision of currency used in some Arab countries, such as, in modern times, Iraq and Bahrain. The term is a modern retranscription of fals, an early medieval Arab copper coin first produced by the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) beginning in the late 7th century and used throughout the region under its rule.

"Fils" is the singular form in Arabic, not plural (as its final consonant might indicate to an English speaker). The plural form of fils is fulūs pl. fulus which can also refer to small amounts of money or to money in general in contemporary dialects of Arabic (eg. Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine and many other varieties of Arabic).^[1][2] The plural form closely resembles the Greek follis from which the Arabic is derived. The French term flouze is borrowed from Arabic. It is also absorbed into Malay language through the word fulus فولوس.^[3]

• 1 Bahraini dinar = 1000 fulūs
• 1 Emirati dirham = 100 fulus
• 1 Iraqi dinar = 1000 fulūs
• 1 Jordanian dinar = 1000 fulūs^[4]
• 1 Kuwaiti dinar = 1000 fulūs
• 1 Yemeni rial = 100 fulūs^[5]

The term fils appears on the earliest coins produced in the area of Greater Syria during the transition from Byzantine imperial rule to that of Umayyad Caliphate.^[6] The earliest examples of these Byzantine-Arab coins were bilingual and they are appear in both Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn with the producing mints undeclared in the 7th century.^[7] The term Arabic: فلس, romanized: fils comes from the Byzantine Greek: follis, a Roman and later Byzantine copper coin.^[8] As 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 Malay derivant fulus was used as the basis for naming the fictional setting of Metrofulus in the 2006 Malaysian superhero film Cicakman.

• Falus, coin of Morocco (1672–1901)