by Maamoun Youssef
The leader of the Islamic State group has ordered the terror
organization to start minting gold, silver and copper coins for its own
currency “ the Islamic dinar.
A website affiliated with the group posted the order lin November 2014, saying IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi instructed his followers to mint the coins to exhange the tyrannical monetary system modelled on Western economies that enslaved Muslims.
This image posted on a militant
website on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, which has been verified and is
consistent with other AP reporting, shows renderings of a 1 silver
dirham coin, a new coin that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the
Islamic State group, ordered the group to start minting for its own
currency - the Islamic dinar. The Arabic on the left
image shows 1 for the first line and 1436 (Islamic year) for the second.
The Arabic on the right image shows the Islamic State for the first
line, 1 dirham (smaller denomination of the dinar) for the second line, 2
grams for the third line and A Caliphate Based on the Doctrine of the
Prophet for the fourth line.UNCREDITED - AP
The order was approved by the Islamic State group's Shura Council,
an advisory board, according to the website. The authenticity of the
posting could not be independently verified but the website has been
used in the past for IS postings. After seizing large swaths of Iraqi
and Syrian territory earlier this year, the Islamic State group proclaimed a caliphate on lands under its control. It has also sought to implement its harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, and al-Baghdadi has proclaimed himself the caliph.
According to photographs of coin prototypes, they carry the words in Arabic: The Islamic State / A Caliphate Based on the Doctrine of the Prophet.
It's unclear where the Islamic State group intends to get the gold, silver and copper for the coins. It said the dinar's purchasing power would be its weight in gold, silver or copper.
One of the gold coins carries the symbol of seven stalks of wheat, mentioned in the Quran, while another has the map of the world, a reference to Islam someday ruling the entire world.
One of the silver coins shows a sword and a shield in a reference to holy war, or jihad while another has a minaret symbolizing Damascus mentioned in one of the Prophet Muhammad's sayings.
Another coin carries the symbol of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, where the Prophet prayed. It's revered as Islam's third-holiest place, complete with the site's iconic gold-topped Dome of the Rock, which enshrines the rock from which Muslims believe the Prophet ascended to heaven.
The copper coins carry the symbol of the crescent moon and three palm trees, also significant in Islam.
The posting said instructions from the Islamic State's treasury department would be forthcoming, explaining to the people how to use the currency.