dirham

coin

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Last updated

June 25, 2026

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The dirham is a unit of currency used in several countries, primarily Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. It also serves as a subunit for the dinar in Libya and the riyal in Qatar. Historically, the silver dirham was a significant coin in the Islamic world, with its standard weight reduced to 2.92 grams by the late 7th century. These reformed coins, along with the gold dinar, featured inscriptions from the Quran and the Muslim profession of faith, rather than pictorial representations. The dirham's origins trace back to the Latin word drachma. In the United Arab Emirates, the exchange rate is approximately 3.673 Emirati dirhams to one US dollar.123

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coin
Islamic coins of the West and of western Asia and Central Asia
…of the silver coin (dirham, from the name of the Sāsānian coin, which in its turn was derived from Greek drachma) was reduced to 2.92 grams, but it retained in its thin material and style some features of its Sāsānian predecessor; the name of the copper change, fals, comes…
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…of the silver coin (dirham, from the name of the Sāsānian coin, which in its turn was derived from Greek drachma) was reduced to 2.92 grams, but it retained in its thin material and style some features of its Sāsānian predecessor; the name of the copper change, fals, comes…
Read More