Women also took part in commercial undertakings and fitted out their own caravans
bound for Syria and other countries. Khadija bint Khuwaylid and Hanzaliya, mother of Abu
Jahl, were two merchant women of dignity and wealth. The following verse of the Qur'an
attests the freedom of women to ply a trade.
"Unto men a fortune from that which they have earned, and unto women a fortune
from that which they have earned." [Qur'aan 4:32]Like other advanced nations of the then world, the commercially minded citizens of Mak-
kah had based their economy on commerce for which they sent out caravans in different
directions, organized stock markets and created favorable conditions in the home market
for the visiting tourists and traders. This helped to increase fame and dignity of Makkah as a
religious centre and contributed in no mean measure to the prosperity of the city. Every-
thing required by the people of Makkah, whether a necessity or a luxury, reached their
hands because of the city's commercial importance. This fact finds a reference in these
verses of the Qur'aan:
"So let them worship the Lord of this House, Who hath fed them against hunger, And
hath made them safe from fear" [Qur'aan 106:3-5]ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Makkah was thus the chief centre of business in Arabia and its citizens were prosperous
and wealthy. The caravan of the Quraysh, involved in the battle of Badr while returning from
Syria, consisted of a thousand camels and carried merchandise worth 50,000 dinars.
Both Byzantine and Sasanian currencies, known as dirham and dinar, were in general use
in Makkah and other parts of the Peninsula. Dirham was of two kinds: one of it was an Ira-
nian coin known to the Arabs bagliyah and sauda’-I-damiyah, and the other was a Byzantine
coin (Greek-drachme) which was called tabriyah and bazantiniyah. These were silver coins
and therefore instead of using them as units of coinage, the Arabs reckoned their values
according to their weights. The standard weight of dirham, according to the doctors of
lslamic Shari'ah, is equal to fifty-five grains of barley and ten dirhams are equivalent in
weight to seven mithqals of gold. One mithqal of pure gold is, however, according to Ibn
Khaldun, equal to the weight of seventy-two grains of barley. Doctors of law unanimously
agree with the weight given by Ibn Khaldun.
The coins in current use during the time of the Prophet (r) were generally silver coins.
'Ata states that the coins in general use during the period were not gold but silver coins. (Ibn
Abi Sha'iba, Vol. 3, p.222)
Dinar was a gold coin familiar to the Arabs as the Roman (Byzantine) coin in circulation in
Syria and Hijaz during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period. It was minted in Byzantium