Earlier in the week Jay and Hatun did a 'livestream' entitled "7th century Coins tell another story of Islam' beginnings". It was almost 2 hours long, much too long for most people to sit through. So, Jay decided to record another much shorter video, around 45 minutes long, which went through the stages of the coins evolution, for those who wanted it more 'Quick, Concise, yet Comprehensive' (the 3 C's). Here then is that recording. And it contains new material never referred to before, because we have never thought to look at the coins carefully before.
The problem is that there has only ever been one narrative taught in our schools concerning how Islam began, known as the 'classical narrative'. Yet, the material for that narrative does not come from individuals who lived at the same time as Muhammad, nor even in the same century, but from compilations written down 200 to 300 years later. Because they are so late they just cannot be trustworthy. Consequently, it would be best for our purposes to go back to the century Muhammad lived, and find out what actually happened.
Unfortunately, there is a problem, as virtually nothing was written or preserved during that period which we can find today with which we could piece together the history of that period. All we had to go on were the 'Islamic Traditions' written 200 to 300 years later, leaving us with silence, and as we know 'arguments from silence' are just that...silent, and not very helpful.
Yet, we do know that there were people who were Arabs, who were living in what is acknowledged as the heartlands of the Arab people (mostly northern Arabia today), and they all used coins in their commerce with one another. Coins, interestingly, are one of the best ways we have to show us a window into the past, and especially into that period, because they are made out of strong and lasting metal (gold, silver and copper), so that they don't deteriorate or disintegrate, like paper or parchments, or even clay, they object normally used to discern the past of a certain. society.
What's more, coins are created by leaders who use them to announce when they come to power, by writing their names, showing images of themselves, and in the case of the Mideast, announcing what religion they belonged to.
One would therefore assume that the earliest 7th century coins, minted during the time of Muhammad, and during the times of the "4 rightly guided caliphs" (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) would be replete with references to them, along with religious references to Muhammad, Allah, the Qur'an, and perhaps Mecca, even the Shahada...yet, they simply aren't.
In fact, the coins from that century tell us a completely different story.
Amazingly they are almost completely Christian Byzantine coins, replete with images of emperors, and crosses; possibly not surprising since it was the Byzantines who controlled northern Arabia. But these coins were not minted by the Byzantines, but by Arabs, who should have referenced something to do with Islam on their Obverse (front) and Reverse (back) sides. But they simply don't for the first 40 years.
Between 640 AD – 660 AD, the Arab Proxy states use Christian symbols (crosses), suggesting they were Christian!
When we get to the first real "Muslim Caliphate", the Umayyads, inaugurated by the caliph Mu'awiyya, in 661 AD, we find that his coins are all either Christian in nature, or reflect Persian Zoroastrian culture, right up until his death in 680 AD.
We do find eastern Arab Sassanian silver coins during his reign with references to Allah, and even a 'bismillah', but it isn't the Muslim Bismillah we know today.
It isn't until 692 AD, with the caliph abd al-Malik, that we finally see a true Islamic coin. Abd al-Malik introduces a gold 'solidus' coin with Muhammad's name on it, inscribed within the 'Shahada', corresponding with the Shahada also introduced on Abd al-Malik's 'Dome of the Rock' in Jerusalem, and on his Caliphal Protocols in the same year.
And then in 696 AD, Abd al-Malik mints his newest coin, removing his image from the Obverse, and replacing it with Arabic script which introduces Muhammad, attacks Jesus’ divinity, as well as his son-ship (in John 3:16), and supports Islam’s superiority over all other beliefs.
This shows us that while Allah’s name is introduced early in the coins from 661 on-wards (which makes sense since it was borrowed from the Nabataeans), Muhammad's name is not found anywhere until 692 AD, a good 70 years too late!
This numismatic evidence supports the archaeological and documentary evidence, suggesting that Islam really did not exist as we know it during the time Muhammad lived, nor for a good 60-70 years after he died, but was first introduced by Abd al-Malik in 692 AD.
Doesn’t this, therefore, suggest that Islam was not introduced or created by Muhammad at all, but was a much later creation by Abd al-Malik?
Coins never lie...
© Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2020
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