I was thrilled to encounter this module as I've been an avid collector of ancient coins for over 20 years. One of my favorite lessons each year is brining some of my collection to school and sharing them with my classes. I teach them a bit of Greek and Latin, of course we breakdown the artistic symbolism, mythology and political world from which they came. 

I've dabbled in the coinage of the Islamic world and have a issue of the Sassanian coins pictured in the Bacharach essay. I was thrilled to learn more of this issue and I'm looking forward to getting back into this essay and unpacking more.

The BBC article was also fascinating and the immediacy of the coinage change was remarkable. I most definitely will be adding this series of Abd al-Malik coins to my lesson (if not my collection as well!) 

In regards to the commenting on the role of religion and politics through coins I wanted to share a passage from the Bacharach essay that I found interesting. In the late 7th century upon the issuing of the new coinage system in Damascus, among other post-Byzantine communities, there were critics of the change. Some came from the umma that considered the sacrilege of printing God's words on coins. Additionally the merchant class considered this a manner in which they were "cheated" out of profits due to the lost established monetary norms of the Byzantines.

This was a fun lesson that I will for sure come back to soon. 

-Sam Knopik