most of them, since they relied on no evidence from religious law. Rather, they took the weight intended by the Messenger to be that of the dirhams minted by ʿAbd al-Malik, because he combined the large, small, and medium dirhams and set their average weight at six dāniqs.

They may therefore be told: Granted that this was so, when the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, addressed his Companions and his community using the terms “dirham” and “dinar,” while they had coins of differing weights, as you have mentioned, he did not define the dirham for them by an average weight as ʿAbd al-Malik did. Rather, he used the terms “dirham” and “dinar” without qualification, just as he used the terms “shirt,” “trousers,” “waist-wrapper,” “cloak,” “residence,” “village,” “city,” “house,” and other things made by human beings. Had he intended a fixed measure for what these terms designated, he would have specified it, knowing that their sizes varied. People’s agreement upon a particular weight for the dirham and dinar is therefore a matter of custom.

The cubit is more closely connected to the natural constitution of created beings than these are. Originally, a cubit is a human forearm, and a human being is created. One forearm exceeds another in length only by a difference determined at creation, over which people have no choice. This differs from things people make by choice, such as dirhams, cities, and residences, which have no fixed measure. Rather, clothing follows people’s bodily dimensions, while residences and cities are proportioned to their needs.

As for the dirham and dinar, no fixed measure is known for them, whether by nature or religious law. Rather, their measure is determined by custom and convention. This is because, fundamentally, they are not themselves the object sought; their purpose is to serve as a standard for what people exchange. Dirhams and dinars are not sought for their own sake; rather, they are a means of conducting transactions