An-naqd is used in the language to mean the distinguishing of Dirhams and removing the counterfeit from them. It is also used for giving and taking Dirhams. An example for the latter meaning is the Hadith of Jabir regarding his camel which the Messenger of Allah (saw) purchased from him and he said: “He (Naqada) paid me its price” i.e. gave to me as Naqd immediately. It is also used for currency itself.
Currencies are known as that thing which people traditionally agreed to use as prices for goods and wages for labour and services, whether metallic or not, such that all goods, labour and services are measured with it.
People used to trade and exchange goods and services by barter before they knew currencies. However, because exchanging goods and services by barter is surrounded by many difficulties resulting in restrictions in trading transactions, societies thought of choosing a principal good with an intrinsic value that is easily exchanged to become a standard (Miqyas) to measure all goods and services. So they initiated currencies which became the sole measurement. As gold and silver are valuable minerals with intrinsic value from ancient times for human beings, they were taken as currency, and Dinars and Dirhams were coined from them. This was because they are especially characterised by relative scarcity just like gold is distinguished by durability over time.
The Roman State and the countries subordinate to it adopted gold as the basis of their currency such that they coined from it Heraclian Dinars that has a specific shape and weight. The Persian State and countries subordinate to it adopted silver as the basis of its currency such that it coined Dirhams of a specific shape and weight. Roman Dinars were of only one shape and weight, whereas Persian Dirhams had numerous shapes and weights.
Pre-Islamic Arabs, particularly the Quraysh, used to trade with neighbouring countries and regions. Allah (swt) says:
“For the taming of Quraysh such that the (Quraysh) caravans set forth safe in winter and in summer” [At-Takathur: 1-2]
They would return from Ash-Sham bearing golden Caesarean Dinars, and silver Chosroes Dirhams from Iraq, and, less often Humayri Dirhams from Yemen. They would bring Heraclian gold and Sassanid silver to the Hijaz. However, they did not deal with these Dinars and Dirhams by number but by weight considering them as ore (Tibr) i.e. (pure) material of gold and silver not coined money. They ignored taking them as coined currency due to the various types of Dirhams and their different weights, and the probability of Dinars being reduced (in weight) due to their frequent exchange even though they had a fixed weight at that time. They depended on weight to prevent fraud and they had specific weights used for weighing which were the pound, ounce, Nush, seed (Nuwat), Mithqal, Dirham, Daniq, carat and grain (Hubbat). The Mithqal the basis of weight-had a known weight. Its weight was 22 carats less one grain, and their ten Dirhams weighed seven Mithqal.
When Islam came, the Messenger of Allah (saw) consented to dealing with these Dinars and Dirhams. He also consented to considering them as currency, as he consented to the weight with which the Quraysh weighed these Dinars and Dirhams. Tawus narrated from Ibn ‘Umar who said: “The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “The weight is the weight of the people of Makka, and the measure is the measure of the people of Madinah.’” Al-Baladhri narrated from Abdullah bin Th’alaba bin Sa’eer who said: “Heraclian Dinars came to the people of Makkah in Jahiliyyah as came Dirhams of al-Furs al- Bughliyya (Persians), and when they traded with them they considered them only as ore. The Mithqal had a well-known weight for them, a weight of 22 carats less a fraction. Ten Dirhams weighed seven Mithqal and the pound was 12 ounces with each ounce being 40 Dirhams. The Messenger of Allah (saw) consented to this, as did Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, Uthman and Ali.”
The Muslims continued using Heraclian Dinars and Chosroes Dirhams in their shape, coinage and pictures throughout the life of the Messenger of Allah (saw) , the Khilafah of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and the first years of ‘Umar’s Khilafah. In the 20th year of the Hijra, which was the 8th year of ‘Umar’s Khilafah, ‘Umar coined new Dirhams in the Sassanid style and retained the Pahlavi faces and writing while adding some words in Kufic Arabic letters such as “In the name of Allah (swt)” and “In the name of Allah (swt), my Lord.” Muslims continued using Dinars in Byzantine style and Dirhams in Sassanid style together with writing certain Islamic words in Arabic letters until the time of Abdul Malik bin Marwan. In the 75th year, or possibly in the 76th year, Abdul Malik coined Dirhams in specific Islamic style carrying Islamic texts engraved upon the Dirhams in Kufic script after abandoning the Sassanid style. In the 77th year, he coined Dinars in a specific Islamic style and engraved upon them Islamic texts with Kufic Arabic script while abandoning the previous Byzantine style. After Abdul Malik had coined Dirhams and Dinars in a specific Islamic style, Muslims had their distinct currency in a unique Islamic style and they abandoned other people’s currency.
The Weight of Dinars and Dirhams
The weight of the Dinar did not differ either in Jahiliyyah or Islam; it has a fixed weight. Byzantine Dinars were used in the time of Jahiliyyah, the time of the Messenger of Allah (saw) and the Khulafa’a after him. Then Abdul Malik coined Islamic Dinars of the same weight. The Byzantine Dinar weighed a Mithqal, where the Mithqal was 8 Dawaniq which weighed 20 carats or a fraction less than 22 carats, both weights being the same as there is a difference in the weight of the two types of carats. The Mithqal is measured as 72 grains of an average barley seed whose two tiny edges are cut off, and it is also estimated as 6,000 grains of average-sized wild mustard.
The Messenger of Allah (saw) consented to this Dinar weight and linked with it the rules of Zakat, blood-money and the cutting for theft. So it became the Shari’ah weight for Dinars, and it is the same weight that Abdul Malik depended upon when he coined the Islamic Dinar and made it a Mithqal.
As for Dirhams, they had different weights because the Persians had three types of Dirhams; the large one whose weight was a Mithqal’s weight, that is 20 carats, the little one whose weight is one half Mithqal’s weight i.e. 10 carats, and the middle one ten of which weighed 6 Mithqal i.e. 12 carats. Al- Balathari narrated from Al-Hassan bin Salih who said: “Dirhams coined by non-Arabs had different weights, both heavy and light. They would coin a Mithqal from it which is 20 carats, another of 12 carats, and another of 10 carats which is of the median Mithqal.” He narrated from other than Al- Hassan bin Salih who said: “Dirhams of the non-Arabs were such that 10 of them weigh 10 Mithqal, 10 of them weigh 6 Mithqal and 10 of them weigh 5 Mithqal.” They used the term mulish (Bughliyya) Dirhams for large Dirhams or the full black (Sood Wafiya) for assessing the basic weight of the Dirham which is the weight of the Mithqal in gold i.e. 8 Dawaniq where a Daniq is two and a half carats, so it becomes 20 carats. This weight was coined at the time of the Sassanids, the righteous Khulafa’a and the Umayyads.
The small Dirham, which is half Mithqal, was called the Tabari Dirham being ascribed to Tabaristan where it was coined. It weighed 4 Dawaniq equivalent to 10 carats. The middle Dirham was called the Juwariqiyya Dirham, being ascribed to Jurqan, the land in which it was coined and it weighed 4.8 Dawaniq i.e. 12 carats.When Islam came and obliged Zakat on silver such that 5 Dirhams are due on every 200 Dirhams, it deemed Dirhams to be those of which every 10 of them weighed 7 Mithqal. They were called “the weight of seven” and they were the middle Dirhams in relation to other Dirhams. This is because they collected the carats of the large, small and average Dirhams and divided them into three, resulting in 14 carats or 6 Dawaniq which are equivalent to 50 and 2/5 grains of the average barley seed whose two tiny edges are cut off. It is also equivalent to 4,200 mustard grains and this is the Shari’ah Dirham considered in the rules of Zakat and blood-monies. This is the weight known and was considered in the days of the Messenger of Allah (saw) , and its amount was measured in Dawaniq and carats and also in the days of ‘Umar based on the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw) : “The weight is the weight of the people of Makkah.” So the amount and proportions were limited to what the Quraysh agreed upon of weights which was consented upon by the Messenger (saw) . This weight was the Shari’ah Dirham, and the Shari’ah rules of Zakat and blood-monies etc were linked to it. This is the same weight of the Islamic Dirham coined by Abdul Malik bin Marwan after abandoning the Persian Dirhams. Waqidi quoted that Wahb bin Kaysan said: “I saw the Dinars and Dirhams, before Abdul Malik bin Marwan engraved and abraded them and they were the Dinar’s weight coined by Abdul Malik.” It is also narrated from AbdulMalik bin As-Saib from Abu Wada’a as-Sahmi that he showed him the weight of the Mithqal saying: “I weighed it and found it the weight of AbdulMalik bin Marwan’s Mithqal. He said: This was owned by Abu Wada’a bin Dhabira as-Sahmi in Jahiliyyah.” Al- Balathri narrated from Uthman bin Abdullah who said: “My father said: ‘The Dinars of Abdul Malik bin Marwan came to Madinah where there were some of the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah (saw) and others from the Tabi’in. No one rejected them.’” Muhammad (saw) bin S’ad said: “The weight of these Dirhams is 14 carats of the 20 carats of our Mithqal which was 20 carats and it weighs 15 carats out from 21 and three-sevenths carats.”
These are the weights of the golden Dinars and silver Dirhams and the specific differences between their types. To facilitate our knowledge of these weights, we must know their specific amounts in today’s weights.
It was made possible to know these weights exactly after the archaeological discoveries, and the discovery of the Byzantine Dinars, Chosroes Dirhams, Islamic Dinars and Dirhams specifically those coined at the days of Abdul Malik bin Marwan and based upon the weights of the Shari’ah Dinars and Dirhams. Numerous coins from the Islamic era are preserved in museums to this day. The keepers of those currencies in the museums, after they had estimated and differentiated between them, recorded it in an accurate way their exact weights. They found that the weight of the Shari’ah Dinar that was coined by AbdulMalik bin Marwan was 4.25 grams. This is the same weight as that of the sulidus which was the golden currency widely used in Byzantine. This was the same weight of the Greek drachma upon which the Sulidus, the Byzantine Dinar, depended. The Byzantian Dinar was circulating during the times of Jahiliyyah and Islam.
Since the Dinar was one Mithqal and the Mithqal is the basis of the weight, then as a result of knowing this, it is easier to know the weights of Dirhams, Dawaniq, carats and grains in relation to it.
Since the Mithqal is equivalent to 4.25 grams and also 8 Dawaniq, then the weight in grams of a Daniq of gold is 4.25 divided by 8 = 0.53125 gram.
Since the Mithqal is equivalent to 20 carats, the weight in grams of a carat is 4.25 grams divied by 20 = 0.2125 grams.
Since the Mithqal is equivalent to 72 grains of barley, the weight of a grain of barley is 4.25 grams divided by 72 = 0.059 grams = 83.3 grains of mustard.
Since the Dirham is equivalent to seven-tenths of a Mithqal and each 10 Dirhams are equal to 7 Mithqals, the weight, in grams, of the Dirham is 4.25 grams x 7/10=2.975 grams.
Or we can say each 10 Dirhams=7 Mithqals, so 10 x 2.975=29.75 grams as the weight of 10 Dirhams.
Or we can say each 7 Mithqals=10 Dirhams so 7 x 4.25=29.75 grams, as the weight of 7 Mithqals.
As the Dirham is equivalent to 6 Dawaniq, the (Daniq) weight in grams is: 2.975 divided by 6=0.495 grams as the silver (Daniq) weight.
As the ounce with which Dirhams were weighed is equivalent to 40 Dirhams, its weight in grams is: 2.975 grams weight of the Dirham x 40 Dirhams weight of the ounce=119 grams weight of the silver ounce.
This is the currency that was used in the days of Jahiliyyah and its weights. Islam consented to this currency as it was, and accepted its use, and of being the measure of all goods and labour. It also consented to the weight of the people of Makkah regarding currency.
Despite all this, Islam did not oblige it as the only tool of exchange when it established the rules of business, purchase and hiring but left it to human beings to exchange goods, benefits and labour by anything that they have a mutual agreement on, without obliging a specific thing upon which exchange is based. It allowed people to buy a sword with dates, sheep with wheat, clothes with Dinars, meat with Dirhams, to work a day for a Sa’a (cubic measure) of raisins, build a cupboard for 5 Dinars or build a specific house in return of the cultivation of a specific land. In this way, Islam left men to exchange with what they wish and with whatever they have a mutual consent on between them whether in goods, labour or currency.
Despite Islam allowing people to exchange with whatever they wish, it specified the currency by which exchange takes place to be gold and silver. It made them the measuring currency, which it reverted to for measuring goods and labour, and the basis for all transactions. It determined for them a specific weight which is the weight of the people of Makkah: “The weight is the weight of the people of Makkah.”
Islam linked some Shari’ah rules with gold and silver in their capacity as gold and silver, and their capacity as currency, money and prices for things and wages for labour. Among these rules: 1. Prohibiting their hoarding (Kanz). Allah (swt) said:
“Those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of Allah (swt), give them tidings of a painful punishment” [At-Tauba: 34]
It made the prohibition of hoarding gold and silver in their capacity as gold and silver and as currency and the tools of exchange, by which trade and employment are fulfilled.
2. It linked specific, constant and permanent rules with both of them
a) Obliging Zakat on them by considering them currency, prices for purchases and wages for labour. It determined for them a specific Nisab for golden Dinars and silver Dirhams: “One half Dinar in every 20, and 5 Dirhams in every 200.”
b) It allowed them (Gold and Silver) to be used for payment when it obliged blood-money, determining a specific amount of gold, which is 1,000 Dinars and silver which is 12,000 Dirhams. Narrated by ibn Abbas “that a man from Bani ‘Adiyy was killed so the Prophet (saw) made his bloodmoney 12,000” i.e. of Dirhams (narrated by the compilers of the Hadith books). It was narrated by Abu Bakr bin Muhammad (saw) bin Amru bin Hazm from his father from his grandfather “that the Messenger of Allah (saw) wrote a book to the people of Yemen containing within it ‘the bloodmoney for a soul is 100 camels or 1,000 Dinars from the users of gold.’” narrated by an-Nasa’i
c) When it obliged cutting for stealing, it specified the amount for which a hand is cut as one-quarter Dinar or
3 Dirhams of silver. It made this the measurement for all that is stolen. From Aisha from the Prophet (saw) who said: “The hand of the thief is not cut except for one-quarter of a Dinar or more” (narrated by the five). From ibn ‘Umar “that the Messenger of Allah (saw) cut the thief for a Majann (sword) of 3 Dirhams.”
3. When it established the rules of currency exchange (sarf) in money transactions, it made them in gold and silver. Currency exchange is exchanging currency for currency and trading money for money, either in its own type like gold for gold and silver for silver, or for different types like buying gold with silver or silver with gold. From Abu Bakra he said: “The Prophet (saw) prohibited silver for silver or gold for gold except equally. He commanded us to purchase silver with gold or gold with silver, however we wished.” (collected by Bukhari and Muslim).
Islam linked these Shari’ah rules with gold and silver in their description as monies and currencies for exchange and prices for sales. This is consent from the Messenger of Allah (saw) to use gold and silver as the sole measuring currency unit upon which sale prices are assessed and wages for labour are measured.
This indicates that currency in Islam is gold and silver because all rules linked to currency are linked to gold and silver in their capacity as prices for all goods and labour and currencies for exchange, whether they are coined or in ore form i.e. not coined.
However, does this mean that it is not permitted for Muslims or the Islamic State to take anything else as currency or to deal with anything else?
As for dealing with other things, this is definitely allowed without any dispute because buying and selling took place in the days of the Messenger of Allah (saw) through barter by exchanging goods for each other just as it took place with currencies of gold and silver. The Messenger of Allah (saw) consented to all of this without preventing or denying it. Rather he permitted such transaction. Muslim narrated from Ubada bin as-Samit from the Prophet (saw) who said: “Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, salt for salt in the same type (mithl) and equal amounts and hand to hand (immediately). If these categories differ, buy as you wish as long as it is hand to hand (immediately).” And An-Nasa’i narrated from Ubada who said: “and he commanded us to buy gold for silver, silver for gold, wheat for barley, barley for wheat hand to hand, however we wished.”
As for the issue of whether Muslims or the Khilafah State are allowed to take other than gold and silver as currency, this inevitably requires one to understand the reality of currency that was present at the time of the Messenger of Allah (saw) and to return to the Shari’ah rules linked to gold and silver.
As for the reality of currency present in the days of the Messenger of Allah (saw) , there was no money at that time exchanged in its capacity as currency to measure the prices of goods and wages of labour, except gold and silver. There was no other currency at that time, whether metallic or non-metallic. There was no copper or lead coins just like there was no leather or paper currency. Gold and silver were the only accepted money and currency circulated among Muslims. Buying and selling was accomplished by them in weight, not units, in their capacity as ore even if they were coined. The trader who sold his goods for Dinars he would weigh the Dinars to verify that they were a complete Mithqal that had not been decreased due to exchange transactions, and whoever sold his goods for Dirhams he would weigh them to verify they were the required weight to complete the sale with them. Whoever possessed 20 Dinars over which a year passed, weighed them and found that they were less a number of carats he would not pay the Zakat as they were less than the Nisab of Zakat. Whoever possessed 200 Dirhams, weighed them and found them one carat less than the Nisab of silver he would not give Zakat because they were less than the Nisab.
This clarifies that gold and silver, in their essence, are considered currency and priced without considering whether they were coined or not. This is because they were traditionally accepted as currency with which goods, labour and services were measured. The Messenger of Allah (saw) consented to this tradition and this consideration. They remained the utilised currency throughout the life of the Messenger of Allah (saw) , the righteous Khulafa’a after him and the times of the Ummayyads and Abbasids. The Muslims never knew of any other currency throughout this period. The Messenger (saw) ’s acceptance the currency and prices was consent to an existing reality and he did not order adopting other than them, as currency.
Examining the Shari’ah rules related to gold and silver, shows that the prohibition of hoarding is linked only to them and not to other types of properties. As for other types of properties, it is possible that they become subject to monopoly but not hoarding. Foodstuffs do not remain viable for long periods, and hoarding is not possible with animals, livestock and birds as they constantly increase. Since hoarding does not appear except in currencies, the rules prohibiting hoarding came related to gold and silver as there was no currency among Muslims apart from them.
However, despite the Legislator (Ash-Shar’i) relating permanent rules with gold and silver such as the rules of blood-money and Zakat, He did not restrict them only to gold and silver but linked blood-money and Zakat with other types of properties (Amwal). Shar’a linked blood-money with camels, cattle, sheep/goats and clothes. It obliged Zakat in livestock of camels, cattle and sheep/goats, crops and fruits, and trading merchandise just like it obliged it in gold and silver.
Thus these rules that are linked to gold and silver are not restricted to them but are linked with other types of properties. However it did not turn attention to currency other than them because there was no other type of currency. As for the rules of interest (Riba) and currency exchange related to them, interest is related to them and other types of usurious wealth that are determined by the Ahadith. As for currency exchange, it can only be in currency and utilised money.
From this review of the reality of currency that was used at the time of the Messenger (saw) and of the gold and silver system, it can be deduced that the currency of the Khilafah State should principally be gold and silver for both measuring the prices of goods and the wages of labour. However it is allowed to use other metals, together with gold and silver, when the small pieces of gold and silver are coined.