Leaders of several Islamic countries have dipped their toes in past monetary discussions of bringing back a gold backed Dinar. But these previous initiatives tended to eventually die out (sometimes quite literally). Now with ISIS/Islamic State being front and center when it comes to world news and trying to act like an official empire/Caliphate, we should have been expecting talk of a circulating currency. So queue a rebirth of the gold dinar (and silver dirham). The Daily Mail is reporting that ISIS is apparently looking to introduce its own currency in the Syrian and Iraqi territory under its control - and this currency will be based on gold and silver coins as defined by historic Islamic rules.
"The currency known as the dinar, which once consisted purely of gold and silver coins, is today used by a variety of countries, but the coins are created from different materials to the originals. However, the jihadi group is understood to be planning to return to the original gold and silver coins, which were first introduced during the Caliphate of Uthman in 634 CE. The original Islamic dinar was a gold coin which was the weight of gold equivalent to 4.3 grams. Its silver counterpart, known as the Islamic dirham, was a silver coin equal in weight to 3 grams of silver. Both were round in shape and one side of the coin was typically stamped with an Islamic message, while the other side featured the date of minting and the country’s ruler."
Not sure how practical this will be but at the very least, its a nice stunt. Good luck converting all those looted Iraqi (paper) dinars into physical gold and silver; minting the metals into the requisite coins; managing supply and maintaining the currency. And thanks for putting a big target on gold and silver holders from around the world as now being potential terrorists (sic).