History of the Dinar
Courtesy of e-dinar.com
In the beginning the Muslims used gold and silver by weight and the dinar and dirhams that they used were made by the Persians.
The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver dirhams of the Sassanian Yezdigird III, struck during the Khalifate of Uthman, radiy’allahu anhu. These coins differ from the original ones in that an Arabic inscription is found in the obverse margins, normally reading “in the Name of Allah”. Since then the writing in Arabic of the Name of Allah and parts of Qur’an on the coins became a custom in all mintings made by Muslims.
Under what was known as the coin standard of the Khalif Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the weight of 10 dirhams was equivalent to 7 dinars (mithqals).
In the year 75 (695 CE) the Khalifah Abdalmalik ordered Al-Hajjaj to mint the first dirhams, thus he established officially the standard of Umar Ibn al-Khattab. In the next year he ordered the dirhams to be minted in all the regions of the Dar al-Islam. He ordered that the coins be stamped with the sentence: “Allah is Unique, Allah is Eternal”. He ordered the removal of human figures and animals from the coins and that they be replaced with letters.
This command was then carried on throughout all the history of Islam. The dinar and the dirham were both round, and the writing was stamped in concentric circles. Typically on one side it was written the “tahlil” and the “tahmid”, that is, “la ilaha ill’Allah” and “alhamdulillah”; and on the other side was written the name of the Amir and the date. Later on it became common to introduce the blessings on the Prophet, salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam, and sometimes, ayats of the Qur’an.
Gold and silver coins remained official currency until the fall of the Khalifate. Since then, dozens of different national currencies were made in each of the new postcolonial national states created from the dismemberment of Dar al-Islam.
History has demonstrated repeatedly that paper money has been a permanent instrument of default and reducing the wealth of the Muslims. In addition, Islamic Law does not permit the use of a promise of payment as a medium of exchange.
The following are a list of some UK contacts and other sources who both buy and sell Islamic Gold Dinars (IGD) and Islamic Silver Dirhams (ISD) for Zakat and other purposes.
Navid Masud (Dewsbury, Manchester, Leeds and the North & North West)
sword_of_reason@hotmail.co.uk
Amir Tareq Ali (Birmingham, Nottingham & the Midlands)
tareqali@hotmail.com
Abu Bakr Carberry (London & the South East)
abubakrcarberry@googlemail.com
Amir Adnan Ashfaq (Edinburgh & Scotland)
dinarexchange@hotmail.com
Hajj Naim Vancooten (Norwich, Cambridge, Suffolk & East Anglia)
naim_vancooten@btinternet.com
Other sources
However, it should be noted that the newly minted Dinars and Dirhams along with the Zakat Assessment Form are tools and means to enable to people to fulfil their duties correctly, paying Zakat to an appropriate local Muslim leader who will distribute it locally. May Allah guide us and give us success, Amin.
can muslins who live in the us pay zakat in us gold and silver coins?
YES
I can’t remember the correlation off-hand but for example a kruggerand works perfectly as an eight (8) dinar coin. The important thing is that we know exactly what a dinar is in order to work out the nisab etc.
The problem is that Eagles, Maple leafs, Pandas, Krugerrands and the like are all around the one ounce size which makes it hard to use them for smaller transactions and they are marketed more for investment purposes. The Gold Dinar, however, was always meant to be a practical coin that would be used in everyday transactions as well as savings.
In fact you’ll note that the name dinar is not of Arabic root as the Muslims have always made use of other society’s coinage.
We could even use the pence and cents as fulus
asalamu alaikum:
I would like to note that some of the above mentioned gold bullion coins are also availible in smaller sizes, Eagles and Krugerrands .10 .25 .50 and 1.0 oz . Maples , and pandas .5 .10 .25 .50 and 1.0 oz. The Eagles and Krugerrands are 91.6% pure gold = 22 karat. The Maples and Pandas are 99.9% pure gold = 24 karat, with that in mind we can see that the softness of the pure coins would not be practical to use in everyday transactions thus making them better for investments, Gold Dinar = 22 karat. If your in a situation where you can’t get Gold Dinars, and Eagles or Krugerrands are availible they are a good alternative.
Salam Aleikum
I live in Finland and I am really interested in buying some Islamic Gold Dinar and Islamic Silver Dirham how can I do this? I want the PHYSICAL coins not e-dinars?
thanks very much!
p.s. I would prefer if You anwser by email
In malaysia, there is a state (Kelantan) that produce dinar gold coins. you can buy at any ar-rahn branch under Kelantan state gov.
http://www.dinarkel.com
Yes, I know some of the key people involved. They are doing tremendous work which we are watching closely. May Allah grant them success.
Assalam-Alaikum,
I too would like to know where I can buy actual gold coins (either in the UK or in Pakistan, failing, that in the Middle East), and somewhere where I can store them securely.
Nawaz.
????how can i purchase golg dinar coins?
well im excited
Are you interested in buying Islamic Gold Dinar, I have and can supply any quantity,
1 Dinar, 4.25 grs of 22 carat gold
2 Dinar, 8.5 grs of 22 carat gold
8 Dinar, 34 grs of 22 carat gold
These are all newly minted gold bullion coins
SELAM,
You can find gold & silver coins of different weights and purities on eBay.
1 OZ silver is around $23 USD – 31.10 grams
99.9% pure silver