Dinar and Dirham This is my reflection and summary of notes from my first session in a Dinar and Dirham seminar

held on 11 Feb 2012. My background knowledge: Before the session, my views on war against riba is: 1) You fight head on by rising up in the banking world (by performance) and change the system from within, or 2) Focus on your Fardhu Ain in your family, and it is hoped we will raise another generation of Muslims better than our generation. With regards to Dinar and Dirham, my only point of view was the practicality of using such instruments for market transactions. Hadith In one hadith, it was mentioned "A time is certainly coming over mankind in which there will be nothing [left] which will be of use save a dinar and a dirham. But do I want to get involved in this? In the Prophets (saw) time, there were many types of instruments including commodities. So, is by holding such commodities considered a sunnah? Here, is where we have to go back to the definition of money, which is described by Imam Malik, by any merchandise commonly accepted as a medium of exchange. Misconception One to highlight is Fiat money is haram. The points considered: a) we have to respect the laws of the land, b) what is the commonly accepted use of money, c) taking into consideration the strict implementation of laws here; one will not be able to survive at a place like Singapore without touching fiat money. Of course, there is a growing Islamic Banking industry where we can place our savings (in fiat money) in the right bank accounts (if we choose to). And if not (for whatever reasons), we have to do something about the interest earned in the conventional bank account, such as giving it to Baitulmal.

Dr. Mahathir In the recent article Europe must do real business (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/16930889), he mentions several points: printing of money should be backed by good economy or gold. Gold has a value at any one time.
the West is not doing real business, in the sense of producing goods and providing services. They are dealing mostly in the financial market, which is not doing anything productive.

For Europes situation, the issue is paying too much money for much less work. Hence, to recover their wealth, they have to work many years to produce goods and services to sell to the world and compete with eastern countries.

Purpose - The question is; do we want to invest in Gold? I understand that investing in Gold and purchasing Dinars are 2 different purposes. The former is for investment purpose, whereas the latter is for use as money (not investment purpose). Hence, we have to seek the intention for its use. Gold - Gold is resistant to inflation and its price is actually stable. But it is not immune to market speculation. When we go to the bank, we see Gold prices rising,

and it entices us to start buying some gold. This rise in prices is due to speculation of market prices by investors. It is good for personal disposable income, but it is not the same as using it as money to purchase goods. Sellers of Dinars and Dirhams - After earning some disposable income, one can buy Dinars if one has a good reason to do so. To note, one definition of Riba refers to the difference in price of one Dinar (by a seller) and the price of one Dinar (by another seller). Hence, we should be aware of the production efficiency of the sellers. In addition, it should be noted the only authority that has the right to issue Dinars and Dirhams are the caliphates. They do this by paying workers wages and NOT to exchange with fiat money. Hence, no one authority can regulate the Dinars and Dirhams because today, there is no caliphate. One example cited, our second caliphate Sayidina Umar r.a. used to perform the following checks on market traders who uses Dinars and Dirhams: 1) he asked the traders if they knew fiqh Muamalat (rules of transactions), and 2) checks for its quality. Do I want to get involved in Gold and Dinars? Every action is judged based on their intention. And one also requires Knowledge before making that action, based on 17:36, follow not that which you have no knowledge.... Author: mahathir13@gmail.com