I was introduced to the Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham concept after stumbling across a clip from a documentary that showed its use in Jakarta, Indonesia, posted on youtube by my favourite economic commentator Max Keiser, which can be seen below.
The subtitled 10-minute clip contains an interview with an Indonesian man who tells his story of why he chose to take his money out of the bank, as well as containing a seminar and interview with Zaim Saidi (CEO of Wakala Nusantara) about the implementation of the dinar and dirham, in addition to showing the local mint, Logam Mulia. The clip is a segment of the “Time for Change” economic documentary by filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, who Max Keiser interviewed in the second half of episode 67 of his Russia Today [RT] ‘Keiser Report’ television program.
After watching the clip, I was fortunate to see Sheikh Imran Hosein’s 2007 lecture “The Gold Dinar and The Future of Money” in the suggested video list, which opened my eyes into Islamic economics and led me to the even better quality lecture “Islam & the International Monetary System”, which covers the same topic and has additional information on the world’s monetary system.
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Islam & the International Monetary System Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 |
After watching the above lecture, you should understand that the world’s banking system is a riba (usury/interest/debt) based system, where central banks of the world can diminish the purchasing power of paper money, which is not Islamically or morally acceptable. And as a result, we must return back to Sunnah Money (precious metal currency) in order to protect our wealth.
The History
In the time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the currency of the Arabs was the Dinar and Dirham and this currency lasted in its original precious metal form until the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I (191os), but many Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, Qatar, Libya and Iraq still use the names to refer to their non-precious metal currencies. The word ‘dirham’ is derived from the name of a Greek coin, the Drachma, which was used by the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire that controlled the Levant and traded with Arabia. The first dinars and dirhams minted by Muslims was during the Khalifate of Uthman bin Affaan, wherein the coins differed from the original ones in circulation by the Arabic inscription of “in the Name of Allaah” on the obverse margins. During the Khalifate of Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the coin standard was introduced so that the weight of 10 dirhams was equivalent to 7 dinars (1 mithqal).
The Modern Movement
Firstly, I would like to thank and give credit to those who have fought the uphill battle to return Sunnah Money to the Ummah and the most recognized individuals I know of are Umar Ibrahim Vadillo (President of World Islamic Mint), Dr.Zeno Dahinden (CEO of E-Dinar), Zaim Saidi (CEO of Wakala Induk Nusantara), Sheikh Imran Hosein (scholar and author), and Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (former Prime Minister of Malaysia), in addition to mints like Logam Mulia and Islamic Mint Nusantara. Thanks must also be given to state governments like the Government of Kelantan and Perak State Government and conferences like the ‘International Conference on Gold Dinar Economy’ [July 2007], ‘Islamic Gold Dinar Roadshow’ (UK) [May 2010], and ‘World Conference on Riba’ (Malaysia) [November 2010] for increasing the awareness and availability of the movement.
The largest integration of the Dinar and Dirham into regular society in the world are in Indonesia, Malaysia and the surrounding areas. There are also small initiatives in Pakistan, United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States of America.
Indonesia seems to have the largest momentum in the movement, with the minting of dinars and dirhams by Logam Mulia and Islamic Mint Nusantara [IMN] in 2000 and the establishment of Wakala Induk Nusantara (WIM) by Mr. Abbas Firman. Islamic Mint Nusantara has also introduced a mobile payment system called Dinarfirst. They also have marketday festivals, where traders use dinars and dirhams for trade. The various Indonesian dinars include the LM Dinar (Logam Mulia), Dinar Peruri (Perum Peruri) and IMN Dinar.
Malaysia isnt very far behind Indonesia in the movement, with the establishment of e-dinar Ltd in 2000 and the ‘e-dinar’ online electronic payment system, as well as the establishment of the World Islamic Mint [WIM] in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the minting of the ‘Islamic Dinar’ or ‘Dinar Muslim’ (minted by Emirates Gold). The state Government of Kelantan began minting dinars/dinars (Kelantan Dinar) in 2006 and its new minted coin set (minted in the UAE) came out in August 2010, while the Perak state government began minting its coins (Perak Dinar) in February 2011. Malaysia has a large variety of editions of the dinar/dirham coins including the Public Dinar (Public Fine Gold International Sdn Bhd), GCP Dinar (Goldcrest Pavilion Sdn Bhd), Dinar Darul Takzim, Nabawi Gold Dinar (24 Qirats), Dinarius & Dirham, Malaysia Dinar (Royal Mint of Malaysia), Dinar Kulim (Dinar Gold Enterprises), and Dinar Shari’i.
 Islamic Dinar |
 Kelantan Dinar |
 Perak Dinar |
 Public Dinar |
 GCP Dinar |
 Nabawi Dinar |
The Islamic and Kelantan dinar and dirham can be purchased at Ar-Rahn branches or online at Nubex and its accepted by a variety of shops. The Perak dinar and dirham is produced by and available through Goldnet International Sdn Bhd. Former prime minster Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s push towards Sunnah Money was seen as far back as 2000/2001 with the establishment of Malaysia’s legal tender bullion coin, the Kijang Emas.
United Kingdom
Dinar Exchange is the official supplier of the Islamic gold Dinars and silver Dirhams in the United Kingdom since 2001 and also sells Emirates Gold gold bars (1g to 1kg). Dinar Exchange and its founder Adnan Ashfaq have been involved in events including the ‘Islamic Gold Dinar Roadshow’ [May 2010] and ‘Islamic Finance’ [Oct 2010] and the website includes a list of agents in various cities (Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield, London, Glasgow). Other retailers of the dinar/dirham include Ayn Gold [Norwich] and Zen Gold [Surrey].
South Africa
During my visit to Cape Town in May 2011, I attended a presentation by Professor Tariq Khan about the The Open Mithqal Standard (OMS), which was developed primarily by Ahmed I. Adjie and Abbas Firman (Islamic Mint Nusantra) with some input from within South Africa. The Muslim community there have establishment their own local Muslim mint by Amir Muhamad Abrahams Sidi Abdurahman Phillips and have recently (April 2011) minted their first silver dirham of 3.11 grams. The Muslim community in Cape Town also have another mint, Qadiriyya Mint, which mints its own ‘World Order of Qadiriyya’ dinars and dirhams.
United States
The use of the dirham in the United States has been established by the Muslim community in North Carolina who have setup the Dinar Wakala LLC (eGold LLC) for the production of the American Silver Dirham, which is minted by the American Open Currency Standard (AOCS) Mint. Also the Amirate America has minted its own 10.5 dirham (1 oz) coin.
Pakistan
EGold Pvt. Ltd. was registered in May 2009 as a private company in Pakistan and through its through its eGold Amanah Services, it has introduced the Dubai and Malaysian minted Dinars and Dirhams for sale and provides open secure online storage accounts for use as an investment and payment medium of exchange.
Prices
eDinar – Digital US$ Prices, Coin US$ Prices
World Islamic Mint – Malaysia Prices, US$ and EURO Prices
Dinar First – Indonesia Prices
Dinar Disagreements
In the dinar and dirham initiative, there are presently two groups of individuals who differ primarily on the weight and purity of the gold dinar. The first group, which I will refer to as the ‘WIM Group’, is of the view that the dinar should be 4.25 grams and 22 karats. The second group, which I will refer to as the ‘Non-WIM Group’, is of the view that the dinar should be a 24 karat coin of between 4.25 – 4.6 grams. The WIM Group is of the position that a 24k coin doesn’t have the durability that a 22k coin (91.67% gold plus silver and copper) has and 24k coins did not existed at the time. The Non-WIM Group’s position is that coins produced at that time were found to contain 97% gold, which shows intent that they tried to produce a pure coin. With the weight of 7 dinars having to equal the weight of 10 dirhams, the WIM Group has its dirhams weighing 3 grams and the Non-WIM Group has their dirhams weighing around 3.1 grams (both 24k or 999). Below are links to Umar Vadillo’s (WIM Group) opinion of gold dinar issue and IMN’s (non-WIM Group) rebuttal of his opinion.
The Question of 24k Dinar Coins – World Islamic Mint (Umar Ibrahim Vadillo)
A Response to “The Question of 24k Dinar Coins” – Islamic Mint Nusantara (Amiin ya Robbal ‘Alamiin)
Western Backlash
Well its no surprise that the western media and governments would look to appose and discredit any change to the current fiat monetary system that is enslaving the world and they will either put it as Islam’s formula to beat capitalism (Guardian) or put it as some type of economic terrorism (CNBC, TED). Little do these people know, but all that Muslims advocating this want is a stable currency, which gold and silver are able to provide, which unfortunately isn’t obtained with fiat money. Austrian economists (most notably associated with the Ludwig von Mises Institute) and many others who believe in the same principal of sound money, in order that business cycles dont have major booms and busts every so many years (1990s Asia Crisis, 2001 Tech Bubble, 2008 Housing/Financial Crisis) and that wealth isn’t confiscated from people by currency devalue (inflation).
What problems I see with the current Dinar system?
1] I don’t believe the dinar should be priced according to the trading spot price, because they are trading paper on the exchanges and instead should atleast be fixed once a day with the fixed prices of London or New York. The continuous checking of the paper to metal value isnt practical, especially if done in a market place, as some type of stability is needed. Or better yet, have a stable value similar to how The American Open Currency Standard has it or Hugo Salinas-Price’s (President of the Mexican Civic Association for Silver) concept of it, seen in slide 9 of his presentation on ‘How to monetize silver so that it can circulate permanently in parallel with paper and digital money’.
2] I believe that minted coins should be minted for the lowest price to spot/fixed price, which unfortunately I dont see with eDinar – Digital eDinar $203.66 while coin $224.12 (10% premium – reasonable) and Digital eDirham $4.17 while coin $9.17 (120% premium – ridiculous) [19th April 2011]. Then for the coins to be shipped and handled, and possibly taxed, to other places in the world, means individuals purchasing the coins will have a very high premium to pay, and instead local mints should take up this task to keep premiums low. I purchased a Kelantan dirham during my trip to Cape Town, where the seller from Singapore had purchased it online from eDinar and had it mailed to him from UAE and had to pay import taxes. He sold the coin to me at 60 rand ($8.72) after checking the price online (RM 24 according to WIM), when the price of 3 grams of silver was $3.59, resulting in me paying a premium of 143 percent.
3] With the World Islamic Mint located in Abu Dhabi and the eDinar Fz in Dubai, I dont see much of a push from their end to promote the availability of dinar/dirham in the Arab region, as I live in the UAE and cant walk into their office and purchase a coin or purchase it from a local jewellery shop. I must log into their website, verify who I am, and only then can a purchase a coin. Why such a run around, when I can easily go into a jewellery shop in Dubai and purchase a 8g 22k British Gold Sovereign coin with no questions. When they first launched in 2001, the coins were available in Thomas Cook Al Rostamani money exchange and in Dubai Islamic Bank, but unfortunately they are no longer available in these places.
Books
 The Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham |
 The Prohibition of Riba |
 The Islamic Gold Dinar |
 The Theft of Nations |
 The Return of the Gold Dinar |
 The End of Economics |
 Between Islamic Banking and the Gold Dinar |
The Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham – Sheikh Imran Hosein
BahrPress.com – Books on Economy
Books by Dr. Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera
IslamicBookstore.com – Between Islamic Banking and the Gold Dinar, The Return of the Gold Dinar
Books by Muhaimin Iqbal
Videos
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Gold Dinar of Madina [Overview of the Dinar Movement] Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 |
Zaid Hamid on Gold Currency [Urdu] – Part 1, Part 2
Marketday Festivals in Indonesia – http://www.youtube.com/user/wakalanusantara
Gaddafi gold-for-oil, dollar-doom plans behind Libya ‘mission’? [1] – Russia Today
Extra Reading
Gold Dinar, Islamic Gold Dinar – Wikipedia
Dinar Exchange – PDF Books
Gold Dinar News – 321 Gold [2001 to 2004]
The Seriousness of the Gold Dinar – Dr. Mahathir
- Documents -
Gold Dinar Investment in Kelantan, The Dinar Wipe Out, Interview with Zeno Dahinden
- Opposing Documents -
Is Return to Gold (Dinar) Possible?
- News Articles -
Indonesia group prefers gold as dollar loses shine – AFP – Feb 2010
Community Sites
Dinar People, Dinar Islam (Indonesian), Gerai Dinar (Indonesian)
Facebook – Kelantan Golden Trade Sdn Bhd, Sunnah Money (not related to this site)
This page is dedicated to all the information I gather about the re-implementation of the dinar and dirham and as such it is a work in progress.
Assalamu alaykum brother,
Do you have Facebook? I would like to get in contact with you.
Greetings from a strong gold dinar supporter.
Adam
Assalamu alaikum,
.
It is so sad that those coin stores or mints are ripping off people. It is better to buy silver and gold from non-muslims
Some of the mints, like the one that is starting in Cape Town, will make sure that the prices are low by external fundings as well as selling jewellery and using the profits from that to keep the costs down on the dinar and dirham. In my opinion, the best way to keep the prices down is to mint the coin locally with low premiums above the current market value.
I wonder why the 8dirham gold coin and the krugger (same weight 34 grs, same 22 carats) are priced differently?
Can anyone explain?
With thanks, good efforts.
David.
All gold coins will be priced differently, even between the 22k american eagle and the 22k krugerrand. As the 8 dinar gold coin is not a legal tender coin, it should be priced cheaper, but as of today (31st July 2011) E-Dinar lists the 8 dinar at USD 1,958.90 and GoldSilver.com has the american eagle at USD 1,713.89 and the krugerrand at USD 1,705.63. So with around a 15% premium of the 8 dinar over the eagle or krugerrand, I wouldnt buy the dinar as it would mean that it would be around at 20% premium over spot, which is more like a premium you’d get for a numismatic (collector) coin. Looking over the prices at E-Dinar, there isnt a premium decrease if you were buying a 1/2 dinar or 8 dinar coin, which was a surprise as bullion coins normally decrease in premiums the larger the coin is. Also I checked IMN’s price of its 24k 4.44 gram dinar coin and if you purchased 8 IMN dinars, it would come to approximately USD 1,763.36, which is a great deal compared to E-Dinar.
ASalaamu alaikum, i want to know why this option is better. There is a lot of hype about purchasing the Iraqi dinar. Many Muslims are being lured into buying Iraqi currency instead of the gold dinar or silver dinar.
Thank you.
Waalaykum salam, well people could have a similar hype about zimbabwe dollars, but that doesnt change the fact that they are paper currency (aka monopoly money) with numbers on them that people today believe doesnt have value and that the people who are buying them hope they will have alot more value in the future. Gold and silver have been deemed by people for thousand years to be money, today’s paper currency are forced by governments to be used as money by their people, which the governments can decide what the value of it is. Hundreds of paper currencies have appeared and disappeared, but gold and silver are still here, so i’ll put my faith in sunnah money.
I hope we have the list of prices of good and services in dinar/dirham and displayed every time , e.g crude oil is 0,5 dinar/bbl , the palm oil 40 dirham/ton , rubber 20 dinar/ton, etc. One of the aim is to shows its stability and familiarity.
Well the way things would be decided in dinars and dirhams is with an open market that trades goods and services for sunnah money. It is good that some exclusive dinar and dirham markets have popped up in places like london and malaysia/indonesia, which shows that it is possible.
please visit http://www.ummahdinar.com for your Dinar and Dirham requirements. we also want agents worldwide. Jazakallah.
Please read this. from Official Blog of Dr. Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera (Author of The Theft of Nations), on December 23, 2011. about The Historical Standard of Islamic Gold Dinar: http://www.ahamedkameel.com/archives/444
Dr. Ahamed goes through the history and is in the non-WIM camp stating “we ascertained that the standard for dinar and dirham are 4.5gm of pure gold and 3.15gm of pure silver”, but also “that it should be perfectly alright to mint the Islamic gold dinar according to that of the time of the Prophet pbuh i.e. a 24K gold coin of 4.25 grams in weight”.