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Still in appearance a Christian Roman metropolis, Damascus now is turning into the capital of a huge new Islamic empire. The head of this burgeoning empire, the caliph, is remote in his palace, and the Islamic armies are segregated in their barracks, but the people in the bazaars and streets of Damascus are about to have their new reality brought home to them in something they handle every day-money.
大馬士革于635年被穆斯林軍隊占領，盡管表面上還是一個信仰基羅馬大都市，但它事實上已成為新的伊斯蘭帝國的首都。這個新興帝國的首領哈里發住在皇宮，伊斯蘭軍隊也都住在自己的軍營，與普通居民沒有什么接觸。但大馬士革街市上的人民將通過自己每天都要與之打交道的物品一貨幣，將新的現實帶回家中。
In the 690s, Damascus merchants might not have understood that their world had changed permanently. Despite decades of Islamic rule, they were still after all using the coins of their former rulers-the Christian Byzantine emperors-and those coins were full of Christian symbolism. It was quite reasonable to think that, sooner or later, the emperor would return to defeat his enemies, as he had several times before. But he did not. Damascus has remained a Muslim city to this day, and perhaps the most visible sign that this new Islamic regime was going to last, was the change in the coinage.
七世紀九十年代早期，大馬士革的商人們也許并沒意識到他們的世界已經徹底地改變了。雖然伊斯蘭教統治了幾十年，但他們仍用著前朝信仰基督的拜占庭君主的貨幣，上面有很多基督教符號。他們想當然地以為，基督教的君主遲早會趕走敵人，再回到大馬士革，因為這樣的故事不止一次地發生過。但這一次，他沒有回來。直至今日，大馬士革仍是一座穆斯林城市。也許這個新興的伊斯蘭帝國將要長期延續下去的最明顯跡象，就是貨幣的改變。
I want to talk about two coins. The man who issued them was Abd al-Malik, Ninth Caliph, Leader of the Faithful, to rule in succession to the Prophet Muhammad. Both coins were issued in Damascus within 12 months, across the Hijra years 76 and 77-that is, 696-697 AD. They're both of gold, and they're the same size. But they're utterly different. One coin shows the Caliph. The other coin has no image at all, and this change reveals how Islam was defining itself as a political system in these critical early years.
下令鑄造本文這兩枚金幣的人是阿卜杜勒馬利克，他是繼承先知穆罕默德的第九代“哈里發”一信徒的領路人。希吉拉七十六年至七十七年，即公元696年至697年，在不到十二個月的時間內，兩種硬幣先后發行。它們都是金幣，大小相當于英國便士，分量則略重。 兩枚金幣的設計完全不同，其一有哈里發像，另一枚上卻沒有任何圖案。這種變化表明，在早期的關鍵歲月里，伊斯蘭教不僅把自己定義為一個宗教體系，同時也是一個政治系統。
