740 money and coinage: The Islamic World Silver dirham coin; Anatolia, 1242–43 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost, Photograph © 2006 Museum Associates/LACMA (M.2002.1.143)) name, and the name of his heir apparent or envoy When a new caliph came to power, he had a new coin struck in his name to make the change of rule official When a revolt took place, the leader of the uprising would establish himself by immediately substituting his own name on newly minted coins Sovereignty was expressed by the right of sikka (the ruler’s name on coinage) In an age before newspapers, radio and television, the mosque and coinage were the primary means of communi- cation between a ruler and his people, and statements made through both media had the power of law behind them Allah’s protection was invoked for the well-being of the sovereign, whose name was proclaimed by the preacher) during his sermon In daily life coins bearing the sovereign’s name reminded his subjects of his power and responsibility for their economic needs A change of ruler was made official when the new ruler was first mentioned publicly in the sermon and when coins were issued in his name Thus, coinage performed the dual function of proclaiming religious affiliation and publishing the current state of political life From the earliest times it was clear that a certain unease existed over the power of money There are repeated warnings in the Koran about money’s transient nature: “Woe to every kind of scandal monger and backbiter who piles up wealth and lays it by thinking that his wealth can make him last forever.” Added to this concern was an anxiety about the insidious tendency of money to distract the believer from the “true path.” The caliph had to reconcile the competing religious demands with more temporal concerns—a tension that was reflected in Islamic attitudes toward money The system of ethics established under Islam had to be reconciled with the needs of an earthly community and the monetary requirements of the state As a consequence of this unease about the power of money, religious scholars attempted to regulate money’s influence and to prescribe certain conditions according to which believers could possess money and remain ethical One of the principal conditions was to give zakat (alms tax) Interest was prohibited according to Islamic law, as was the use of promissory notes as a medium of exchange (hence the aversion to paper money) While the “canonical” exchange rate was 10 silver dirhams to one gold dinar, the going rate was determined in the Variations from “Standard” Coinage While the use of figural imagery was discouraged, there are a number of interesting exceptions in coins that illustrate variations from strict adherence to the letter of religious law Many of the images were common to contemporary Muslim art and were designed for secular contexts, such as metalwork and ceramics For instance, during the 12th and 13th centuries in the region covered by northern Syria, northern Iraq, and eastern Anatolia there appeared a fascinating and unique series of bronze coins struck by a number of dynasties of Turkoman origin These coins contained designs coming from a complex and disparate range of sources The earliest coins bore Byzantine Christian imagery, such as an enthroned Christ and Saint George and the dragon From the mid-12th century coins with ancient Hellenistic and Sassanian portrait heads appeared concurrently with others showing various astrological symbols It may be that the appearance of these coins is evidence of a politically motivated antiquarian interest in the past civilizations of the region The Seljuks of Anatolia under Kaikhosru II (1237–46) adopted on their silver coins the image of a lion and sun (representing Leo) and used ancient Persian names, features that have been ascribed to a revival of Persian interest at this time